New adventures
by faith-truth-hope
Summary: Harry Potter gets kidnapped from the Dursley's in the summer after fifth year. New adventures and opportunities arise. Give it a chance. This story is open to new ideas.
1. Chapter 1

_**Authors Note**_**- This is my new story I hope you like it. This story is open to suggestions seeing as I have not yet decided exactly where it is going. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, seeing as English is not my native tongue. I live in Puerto Rico. Reviews would be greatly appreciated as they do help me get inspiration. Well, enough about me enjoy the story!!**

_**Disclaimer**_**- Do you really think I own anything? Nothing, and I repeat, absolutely nothing belongs to me, this is all the property of J.K Rowling. The only things I own are my own original character. **

A fifteen year old boy walked down the street of Little Whinging with his hands on his pockets. The raven colored haired boy with green eyes and a lightning shaped scar on his forehead was silently walking down the street looking for a nice place to sit and relax.

It had already been a month since Harry Potter had returned to the Dursleys' for his summer vacation. Harry Potter was not a normal boy. Harry Potter hated summer more than any other holiday. Harry Potter was considered a freak by his only living relatives. Why was he considered a freak, you may ask; well the answer to that question is simple enough. Harry Potter was a wizard. Not just any wizard, the boy-who-lived.

A month ago Harry Potter had lost his godfather to the most evil wizard of his time, Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort was the one responsible for Harry having to spend his summer in the care of the Dursleys. When Harry was little more than a year old Lord Voldemort had killed his parents and then proceeded to try and kill him. Thanks to Lily's, his mother's, sacrifice Voldemort's killing curse had failed and had rebounded onto his caster making him the boy-who-lived, the only one to have ever survived the killing curse. But enough about Harry's past, lets move on to the present.

Harry Potter was walking down the deserted street with his head held down and his hands on his overly large jeans. Knowing that he was being followed by at least one of the Order of the Phoenix members, he made his way without even bothering to look around for any Death Eaters that may be lurking around. What a big mistake!

A hand suddenly came up to Harry's mouth and pressed so that no sound could be heard.

"Do not move." A voice close to his right ear hissed at him. Harry tried desperately to get out of his captures grasp, but only succeeded in getting his capturer to hold him even tighter. Now Harry was really panicking. Where was the Order member who was supposed to be watching him? Just as this thought passed through his mind his capturer explained.

"Do not worry your guard is safe. She is just unconscious."

His capturer then proceeded to drag Harry with him to a dark alley. Finally he was able to see his capturer from a nearby street lamp. Harry did not think that he was a Death Eater because he was neither wearing black robes nor the white masks accustomed to the Death Eaters. But if anything this made Harry even more nervous. He knew how to deal with Death Eaters, he had done so on numerous occasions, but this new, unknown threat, he had no idea who he was or what he was capable of doing.

Without giving Harry the chance to even try to escape, the stranger pulled out a peculiar looking ring and touched it with Harry's skin. Harry felt the familiar pull behind the navel which signaled a portkey being activated before his whole world swam before his eyes and next thing he knew he was on the floor on a deserted clearing in a forest floor.

The next thing he saw was an extended hand toward him. Harry could only look at the hand and blink. _Why would he be offering me a hand? Didn't he just kidnap me?_ Harry thought to himself.

"I am sorry Harry Potter, but this was the only way we could get to you and ask for your help." His capturer said. Now Harry could see his face. It was a man who looked to be about forty years old. He had shoulder length white hair; his eyes were a soft brown color which looked to be full of wisdom beyond his years. The man was wearing a simple pair of white jeans and white long sleeve shirt.

"Excuse me?" Harry managed to say at last after about two minutes of looking unblinkingly at the stranger.

"I am not going to harm you Harry Potter, I are asking for your help." The man explained. Harry still could not believe the man so he asked again.

"What exactly do you mean?" Harry asked.

"I mean Harry Potter that I and my people need your help, for you see, me and my people have been neutral in this war you and the others fight, but I fear that we may not have that leisure any more. My people will not fight for anyone as is the case if we join either Albus Dumbledore or Lord Voldemort. We need your help, Harry Potter so that we may have a chance to not fight for anyone in this war, but with someone. I and my people know that you are the last chance to defeat Lord Voldemort, many of our kind have joined him in his war, but we do not wish to serve no one, not even Albus Dumbledore. We know that you will understand and give us the chance of being allies and not servants." The stranger said.

"I do not understand where are we? Who are you? Why would your people not be treated as equals by Albus Dumbledore? I know he has his faults but he always looks at the good in people." Harry asked still confused.

"I am sorry Harry Potter, I forgot my manners, we are in Acinorev, it is the forest in which I and my clan live, my clan is named after the forest. I am Antonio de Acinorev, clan chief of the Acinorev Vampires, and the reason why neither Albus Dumbledore nor Lord Voldemort will fight as equals with us is because we are Vampires." The man, Antonio, explained.

Harry could only stare at the man, now he was really frightened. He was in the middle of no where with a Vampire! _I definitely don't have the gods on my side._ Harry thought to himself. He had no where to escape to and worst of all he did not see a choice in the matter of staying.

"What exactly is going to happen to me?" Harry asked the Vampire.

"Nothing, unless you willingly want it, I will not force you to help us. Here," Antonio handed Harry the ring which had portkeyed him to this forest. "To go back to your home you only have to say 'me voy'. We will not force you to do absolutely anything."

Harry was shocked. The man was giving him a way out if he wanted! _How much would it hurt to follow him and learn about the Vampires and their way of life?_ Harry asked himself. _Not much and I have a means to go back if anything happens_. He reasoned.

"I will accompany you, but nothing can be done to me, do I have your word?" Harry asked Antonio.

"You have my word." Antonio responded. Tacking a step forward he started to explain to Harry about Vampires. "We Vampires are not the way wizards or muggles have portrayed us to be. We do not die because of sunlight, although we prefer the night, we do not mind the sun in the least. We do not feed on humans unless they are our bonded. Crosses do absolutely nothing to us. We can walk without being heard, and our senses are better than that of the humans."

Harry was silently absorbing this new information. It looked as through wizards had never actually taken the time to talk and learn from the Vampires, the same as with werewolves. Slowly Harry was beginning to notice a lot of flaws in the wizarding world. Just during this past month when he had dedicated himself to studying, to try and keep his mind out of Sirius' death, he had learned a lot about the laws that ruled the wizarding world. Many of this laws concerned magical creatures, many if not all of this laws were unjust; Harry now understood why there had been so much goblin rebellions in the past. For example the werewolves were shunned out of society for all their lives. They could almost never find a job and many lived on the streets or had move from England to France where the laws were fairer. When Harry stopped to think about it he was not surprised that many of the magical creatures had chosen to go over to the dark side of the war.

Right then Harry made a decision that the next time he talked to Dumbledore he would tell him what he expected to gain from this war. Harry Potter was not happy with Albus Dumbledore. Just two weeks ago he had discovered the Dumbledore had put a restraining spell on his magic, so that it could keep from becoming too powerful. Harry had escaped from the Dursleys' for the day and had gone to Diagon Alley to a specialist who took it of from him. Later he had gone to the bookstore and bought a couple of books on wandless magic, which was not traceable by the ministry, and had started educating himself. Now he was fairly good at it, he could do almost all the spells from first to third year wandlessly and was working on fourth year. He had also started reading into Blood Wards and discovered that they did not have to be done with only relatives, but could also be set up with someone who truly loved the person being protected.

Harry keep silent, listening to Antonio telling him about the Vampires way of life. He learned that Vampires lived hundreds of years, and that Antonio was in fact not forty but a hundred and twenty. He learned that Vampires treat their clan as trough they were family, many of them were. Vampires treasured their children. They absolutely devoted themselves to their bonded and there was not a lot of violence between them. The clan lived in harmony with each one caring for the other.

The same could not be said about the relations between the different clans. Many of the other clans had joined Voldemort, but many more were still neutral, with the same dilemma as the Acinorev's. There had been few bondings between Vampires of different clans, because they generally did not get along. Many a wars had broken up between the different clans for land and power. Right now the Acinorev's were not in a war, but their sister clan, the Acilegna, were in a war with the Aithnyc's.

Harry kept following Antonio through the forest. From the clearing they had passes on to trees and more trees. Now they entered another clearing with a small creek running through the right side. At first glance the clearing was deserted, but looking more closely you could see that they were small huts that mended with the surrounding trees. Upon even closer inspection you could see people in the shades of the trees looking curiously at them while at the same trying to hide.

"Come my family and friends, Harry Potter has agreed to help us, he means us no harm, do not be afraid and come forth to welcome him into our beloved city." Antonio spoke in a voice which carried to everyone in the clearing. As one the whole clan walked forward to greet their guest. Harry greeted each of the Vampires of the clan. There were about five hundred Vampires in the clan.

Last he was introduced to Antonio's daughter, Aria, she was a short young woman of about 5'4'' in height, and she had mid-night black mid-waist strait hair with streaks done in blood red. Her eyes were a soft brown just like her father, but she had a softer face which Harry guessed belonged to her mother. She was barefooted and wore a white Capri with a white short sleeve shirt. Harry wondered how this people could live in a forest and still wear white. Her pants had many pockets in them that appeared to be full. Strapped to her belt was a silver dagger with a ruby on the hilt. On her right hand she wore a beautiful silver ring with a ruby in the middle and small diamonds circling the ruby. On her left arm right above the elbow, she had what appeared to be a leather strip shaped in the form of beautiful flowers. On her right wrist she had a collection of about seven bracelets, each one different.

"This is my daughter Aria de Acinorev." Antonio introduced her.

"Nice to meet you." Aria said once she had been introduced.

"Nice to meet you too." Harry responded he was a little taken aback by this girl, in the Vampire clan she was considered royalty, a princess one could say, and this was definitely not the way Harry expected her to dress.

"Harry, Aria will guide you through the clan, you may ask her anything and she will respond with the truth." Antonio said.

"Very well." Harry responded before following Aria into the forest. They passed threw huge houses that appeared to be trees but upon closer inspections they revealed themselves to be huge manors or simply community buildings like libraries. Aria explained every single one of the buildings that they passed including their history and why were they created.

Finally they reached the middle of the community were Aria explained that this was her home along with her father. Her mother had died giving birth to Aria and her father had never married or bonded with anyone else.

"While you stay in our clan, you are welcome to stay in my house, we have already prepared rooms specially for you." Aria explained.

"I will be honored to stay in your house." Harry responded. During the half-hour that he had spent whit her, he had gotten to know Aria. She was trained in combat and was ready to defend herself or her clan from harm. Aria had trained since she was a child to become the next clan leader. She took her responsibilities seriously.

"Very well, follow me please." With that she led him through many corridors with many doors at either side until finally they reached the correct door that led to Harry's room. When Aria opened the door Harry's mouth dropped open. His room was huge! The walls were a soft brown color with gold designs of different magical animals including dragons and unicorns. The bed was gigantic with silver and gold sheets. He had a dresser and a night table. On the right wall there was a huge bookcase filled with many books that Harry had not even heard of. He had a silver rug in the middle of the room. He had two armchairs and a loveseat. A bathroom was connected to the room. When he entered the bathroom he saw a tub even bigger than the one in the prefects' bathroom. He also had a shower surrounded by beautiful colored crystal shaped in the form of a dragon in flight.

"I hope this room is to your liking." Aria said from the doorway to the bathroom.

"I love them." Harry responded with a smile on his face. It looked like his summer was starting to look up, finally.

_**Author's Note-**_** Please leave a review. Tell me what you think. A question should I turn Harry into a Vampire? I was thinking I would but I am not sure what do you think? Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry about any spelling or grammar mistakes. I really don't like the tittle, so if you have a suggestion please tell me.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Authors Note**_**- The author's note is at the end. Please review and tell me what you think or any ideas. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated seeing as English is not my native language. **

_**Disclaimer**_**- Do you really think I own anything? Nothing, and I repeat, absolutely nothing belongs to me, this is all the property of J.K Rowling. The only things I own are my own original character. I am also making absolutely no money out of this.**

It had been over two weeks since Harry Potter had been brought to the Acinorev forest and introduced to the Acinorev Vampires. During this past weeks Harry had learned a lot. He had learned about Vampires and their ways of life. Harry had quickly become friends with many of the Vampires.

Antonio himself was training Harry in physical combat. Harry had already learned the basics. He was getting fitter and was gaining some much needed weight. Elsmere, who was the only other teenage Vampire apart from Aria, was helping Harry in learning to sword fight.

Harry had become friends with Elsmere, a teenage Vampire of sixteen; she had light brown hair and pale blue eyes. She was Aria's cousin. She lived with Antonio and Aria because both her mother and father had died when she was only five in one of the many wars the clan had had throughout its history.

Elsmere was a kind girl with a heart of gold. She was sweet and was not fast to judge. Harry had taken a liking to her at once.

Aria was a completely different matter. At first Harry had simply thought that she had a very indifferent personality because she had treated him with an indifferent, bordering on cold, attitude, but slowly she had left her mask fall and Harry had been able to see that Aria had a heart of gold. She always made sure that the person was worthy enough to actually get to know her. Harry had been one of the few strangers she had actually let see her for what she truly was, a sweet and kind girl, although she could be nothing but cold and indifferent, maybe even cruel at times.

Although it had been awkward at first to be taught to fight by girls, Harry had quickly learned to not underestimate them. Both Elsmere and Aria were excellent sword fighters and always kicked his behind.

Antonio was also a strong and strict teacher. He was helping Harry learn muggle fighting. In this form of fighting Harry had been learning fast. In just two weeks he had been able to master what other people would learn in a month. All in all Harry was learning a lot of new and important things from the Vampires.

Elsmere and Aria had taken Harry to the clan's fashion Vampire to have a makeover. Harry had tried to argue that he did not need a makeover, but the two teenagers had overpowered him and dragged him into the shop.

Two hours later Harry had emerged from the shop with a whole new look. They had cut his hair short. It still flew of in different directions, but was a little neater. The tips of his bangs were died an emerald green, which Aria had said matched perfectly with his eyes. They had fixed his eyesight so that you could see his eyes more clearly. They looked even more brilliant now. Last but not least they had completely bought him a new wardrobe. Some of the clothes included short sleeved shirts which showed his developing muscles and pants which looked to be made just for him. They had also gotten him a small dagger with an emerald on the hilt which he always carried with him. No shoes were bought seeing as Vampires did not wear shoes in the forest. The only times a Vampire wore shoes was when he or she left the forest, and seeing as that did not happen often, there weren't many places were you could buy shoes.

Harry was happy. He was glad to have had the chance to escape the Dursleys. Since arriving in the Vampire clan he had matured and learned from them. Harry had already started to learn the art of moving in silence and using the shadows in his favor.

He had already decided that he was indeed going to help the Vampires and was going to give them the chance to fight with him not for him, no matter what Dumbledore or the Ministry had to say about it. He had already made up his mind but he had not yet told any of the Vampires. He was planning to do so today.

Today was his birthday, the day he turned sixteen. In the wizarding world he still had a year to go before reaching his legal status as an adult, but in the Vampire clan sixteen was considered an adult, and although Harry was not part of the clan, he was an honorable guest and as such he received the same honors.

Today Antonio had planned for a huge feast to be served in the clearing were he had first been brought. Harry was planning to break the news of his decision during the feast.

Putting on a white long sleeved shirt with green linings on the hands and neck, a black pant and arranging his hair, Harry looked himself over on the mirror on his bathroom and thought that he looked presentable. He grabbed his dagger on his way out of his room before turning the corner and almost bumping into Aria. He managed to move to the side just in time.

"Hey Harry, happy birthday" she said.

"Thanks, Aria, where are you going? Are you not going to the feast?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yes I am going. But I have to grab something first. How about you go on without me, Elsmere is already there." Aria said in one breath before running off into the opposite direction which Harry was going.

'_Definitely girls are weird'_ Harry thought to himself when he slowly made his way into the clearing for the feast.

When Harry reached the clearing he noticed that almost half the clan was already gathered around a huge table. Antonio had told him that the whole clan was invited to attend. Harry made his way over to Elsmere and Antonio, who were at the head of the table.

"Hi Harry, happy birthday." Elsmere said once Harry had reached their sides.

"Yes, Happy Birthday Harry" Antonio said.

"Thanks" Harry responded.

"Where was Aria going?" Harry asked Elsmere once he had been wished a Happy Birthday by all the Vampires near.

"I have no idea, she just said she forgot something and ran off to go get it." Elsmere responded with a shrug.

"Yeah, she told me the same thing." Harry responded. Just then Aria arrive panting and holding her side.

"I'm here, sorry." She said through pants.

"Its okay, where were you?" Elsmere asked.

"Oh, I was just looking for something I forgot." Aria responded waving her hand as through diminishing it for nothing.

"Okay then, what were you looking for?" Harry asked with a grin on his face knowing that Aria did not want to tell them.

"Oh, it was nothing important." Aria tried again.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry now let it go, before you get yourself hurt." Aria said threaten-ly. Harry knew it was not a real threat but he still backed down.

"Okay, okay sorry." Harry responded still with a grin on his face. He had come to be-friend the two teenage Vampires. They had become almost as close as Ron and Hermione were to him.

"Come on, let's go sit down." Elsmere interrupted.

"Whatever." Aria responded but still made her way over to the table.

Antonio gave a small speech and after that everyone grabbed some food. There was literally everything you could imagine to eat. There was everything from duck to geese, both with delicious gravy. There was rice and potatoes as side dishes. Flowers were in the middle serving as table centers. There were also all kinds of fruits and vegetables all around the table.

Harry's mouth started to water at the sight of all that delicious food. Harry still did not know how the Vampires did it, but they cooked even better than the Hogwarts house-elves. When Antonio gave the signal to tuck in Harry did not have to be told twice. He grabbed a little of the things closer to him and started eating.

Aria was laughing at Harry's antics. Still chucking to herself she also served herself and started eating, although at a more normal pace. Elsmere was also laughing softly next to Aria and also served herself.

When everyone was finished eating Antonio stood up to address the clan.

"As you all know we are all gathered here today to celebrate our guests' Birthday. Although Harry here is a human, he is our guest of honor as such receives the same rights as Vampires in this clan. Today as is custom in Vampires clans throughout the nation, Harry becomes an adult. At the age of sixteen Vampires are declared official adults, they gain the same rights as any other adult in the clan, without exception."

Now Antonio turned and addressed Harry directly. "Today Harry you will become an adult by Vampire standards and as such today you gain new rights. You are now and adult and as such your opinion and vote on clan issues matter a great deal. For as long as you remain in this clan you have the responsibility of protecting, the woman and children of the whole clan. Today we will present you with a few gifts to help you in your new responsibilities and to show everyone that you are an official adult."

Harry was simple astounded. He was overwhelmed. He was so honored, glad. He could not believe it. He was receiving the greatest honor a Vampire could give you, besides turning you. This was an act which had only happened a handful of times in the last 500 years. Harry was receiving the same rights as any other Vampire, without being turned.

Harry was still in a state of awe as Antonio motioned for one of the Vampires near the other end of the table to come forward.

"Harry Potter, we will be honored if you accept this gift from us." The Vampire said in a deep and loud voice that carried throughout the whole table. The Vampire had a bundle wrapped in cloth which he was unwrapping carefully. He carefully unwrapped it until Harry could see a beautiful sword.

It was 36 inches long. The hilt was black with while gold making odd patterns around it. Upon closer inspection you could see that the patterns were in fact runes. There was a huge Sapphire in the middle of the hilt. The sword was literally shinning in the little light the moon gave.

Harry could only gap at it. He slowly and shakily extended hi hand in order to grab the beautiful sword. His fingers closed around the hilt and he carefully lifted it into the air. The sword was heavy, but not too heavy; it was just the perfect weight and size for him.

"Thanks you, I accept this marvelous gift with great gratitude and promise to uphold my responsibilities and to not bring shame into this clan." Harry said in a formal voice. He knew that this sword represented all his responsibilities and that by accepting it, he was accepting being and adult, and the responsibilities and honors that came with it.

The whole table cheered as Harry accepted their gift.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to let you all know of my decision to fight alongside you in this war. I don't care what the ministry, or even what Albus Dumbledore has to say about the issue, but I would greatly appreciate it if you would fight alongside me, against Voldemort, like brothers."

There was another round of cheering, this time even louder. Finally when the table had quieted down a little Antonio stood up once more.

"Thank you Harry Potter, we are greatly honored that you have given us the chance to fight alongside with you, as equals. I do not have enough words to express my gratitude."

"It was nothing Antonio; I am the one who is honored at being able to fight alongside you, and at being treated as a member of this clan even if I am not a Vampire."

"It is but the smallest thing we could do to repay you." Antonio responded.

"Oh, but for me it a great honor, and I am very much thankful to you and your whole clan." Harry responded.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

After the other Vampires had left to go to their respective houses, and only Aria, Elsmere and Antonio remained, Aria spoke up.

"Hey Harry, neither me nor Elsmere have given you your present." She said.

"Oh, come on you know you don't have to get me anything." Harry responded with a grin.

"Oh, please drop the act Harry; we know you can't wait to know what we got you." Elsmere said laughing.

"Oh man, you got what will I do now?" Harry said also laughing.

Aria hit him in the arm before also laughing. "Okay, okay Harry; we have a very special surprise for you."

"Really?" Harry asked now really curious as to know what they had gotten him.

"Well Harry, you do know that Vampires can do magic don't you?" Elsmere asked. At Harry's nod she continued. "But you know that not many of us have a wand because the ministry puts a restriction on us." Harry once again nodded but this time with a darker look on his face.

"Well, one of the things that Vampires can do and the ministry has kept quiet is that certain Vampires, who have a wand, have a special power. Wanna know the special power?" Aria said, she finished her speech in a teasing tone.

Harry merely glared at her as she laughed at the look on her face.

"Well, you see. Wait I will not tell you, I'll show you. You see I have a wand, one of the few Vampires in this clan that do actually." Aria said "Give me you wand Harry, please"

Harry gave her his wand. Aria pulled out a wand from one of her many pockets of her pant and touched the tip of hers with Harry's. Whispering under her breath she removed the tip of her wand from Harry's and blew on Harry's. Harry's wand glowed a brilliant blue for two seconds before going back to its original state. She handed the wand back to Harry with a smile on her face.

"Umm, what exactly did you do to my wand?" Harry asked confused as he took his wand back. It felt and looked exactly as it had before he handed it to Aria.

"She took out the tracking charm which alerts the ministry when you use magic." Elsmere replied laughing.

"In other words, you can now use magic anywhere at any time." Aria explained also grinning.

"Thanks" Harry replied giving both girls a warm hug.

Just when Aria was about to say something three owls appeared out of nowhere, with letters strapped to their legs. They all flew directly towards Harry. Harry could easily recognize Hedwig and Pig, Ron's owl, but he did not recognize the third owl.

He quickly untied all the letters and watched as Pig and the other owl left at once. Hedwig merely flew to his shoulder from where she hooted in a satisfied manner.

Gazing at Aria and Elsmere with a worried expression on his face Harry opened the first letter. He was worried because this was the first time he had received any correspondence since he had arrived in Acinorev.

The first letter was from Hermione, his bushy haired friend.

_Dear Harry:_

_Harry James Potter, where have you been?! Do you have any idea how worried we've been?! You have better be alright because if you have managed to get yourself into trouble I will personally make sure that you will not even think about ever going into another adventure! I hope that for your future health you respond to this letter and tell me exactly how and where you are!_

_Happy Birthday Harry! Hope you are well. Please Harry please respond to this letter._

_Love always_

_Hermione_

After reading the letter Harry felt extremely guilty. He had not even bothered to send a letter to the Order to let them know that he was safe. Ashamed with himself Harry opened his neatly wrapped package. Inside it there was a book about magical creatures. Harry smiled to himself. He had told Hermione at the beginning of the summer about his increasing curiosity with magical creatures.

Tacking a deep breath Harry opened the second letter. This one was from his best friend Ron Weasley and the rest of the Weasleys.

_Dear Harry:_

_Hey mate, I hope this letter reaches you safely, wherever you are. I do not really think you are in trouble, because if you-know-who had captured you he will be showing off right now. I told the rest of the Order that you probably just needed to get away from those muggles, but they are still worried. Please respond and let us know if you are safe._

_Ahh yes mate, Happy Birthday!! This present is from me and the rest of the family, except the joke items, which are from Fred and George. _

_Hope you are well_

_Ron and the rest of us Wealeys_

Harry smiled when he finished reading this letter. He found it funny that Hermione would lose her head when she was worried while Ron could think properly. Harry's smile grew even wider when he opened his present, apart from the twins joke items there were Mrs. Wesley's delicious homemade food and Ron had gotten him new seeker gloves.

Once he had finished admiring his new globes Harry had opened the third letter. This was a Hogwarts letter with his OWL's scores and a list of materials for next year.

_OWL SCORES FOR Harry JAMES POTTER_

_TTRANSFIGURATION:_

_PRACTICAL- O_

_WRITTEN- E_

_AVERAGE- O_

_CHARMS: _

_PRACTICAL- O_

_WRITTEN- O_

_ AVERAGE- O_

_POTIONS:_

_PRACTICAL- E_

_ WRITTEN- O_

_AVERAGE- O_

_DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS:_

_PRACTICAL- O_

_WRITTEN- O_

_AVERAGE- O_

_HERBOLOGY:_

_PRACTICAL- E_

_WRITTEN- E_

_AVERAGE- _

_HISTORY OF MAGIC:_

_WRITTEN- P_

_AVERAGE- P_

_ASTRONOMY:_

_PRACTICAL- A_

_WRITTEN- E_

_AVERAGE- E_

_DIVINATION:_

_PRACTICAL- D_

_WRITTEN- P_

_AVERAGE- P_

_WE CONGRATULATE YOU MR. POTTER ON YOUR SCORE_

_SINCERELY_

_MINISTRY OF MAGIC_

Now Harry was really smiling. Not only had he gotten twelve owls! But he had also gotten into NEWT Potions! Harry could not wait to see the look on Snape's face when he saw him in his first sixth year class. Still smiling Harry turned around to face Aria and Elsmere.

"Guess what"

"What?" they both asked at the same time.

"Look." Harry said before giving them his owl grades. Both girls congratulated him and hugged him for his grades. "I only have one question."

"What?" they both asked once again.

"When am I going to Diagon Alley to get my stuff?" he asked now worried. He did not want to leave his new friends.

"Well, how about you send a note to your friends asking them, when they are going and we could escort you." Antonio replied. "And better yet ask them if the headmaster could please meet with you there. I would like to ask him a small favor, and it would go batter if you were there to aid us."

"Of course, may I ask what is the favor?" Harry asked curiously.

"I was merely going to ask him whether a few of us can go live in the Forbidden Forest for the rest of the school year, seeing as we are now officially fighting, me and my warriors will greatly like to be near the action, and also I was wondering if these to girls here would be welcome in Hogwarts."

"I will totally help you" Harry replied, he could think of nothing that would please him more than having the Vampires there to help him and the rest in this war.

**Author's Note- Well before you say it, I know Hermione's letter is OOC, but the reason for it is that I imagine Hermione losing her head when she starts to panic or her emotions are to powerful. I imagined her freaking over Harry and his well being. Ron can keep a level head because he has seen the way the Dursleys treat Harry and can understand that Harry can take care of himself, also he believes that Voldemort, or anyone else who had kidnapped Harry, would have made it public ny now. **

**Okay, now I just wanted to know if you want to see Ron and Hermione as a couple in this fic?**

**And last but not least I am truly sorry that it has taken me so long to post this chapter. The thing is that I had to do three research projects and then I got sick. Sorry once more for the lateness and any grammar/spelling errors. **


	3. Chapter 3

_**Authors Note**_**- The author's note is at the end. Please review and tell me what you think or any ideas. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated seeing as English is not my native language. **

_**Disclaimer**_**- Do you really think I own anything? Nothing, and I repeat, absolutely nothing belongs to me, this is all the property of J.K Rowling. The only things I own are my own original character. I am also making absolutely no money out of this.**

It was the week before going back to Hogwarts. Harry Potter was sitting on one of the armchairs on his room in Acinorev. Aria and Elsmere were sitting next to him each with a book in their laps. The fire was roaring and offering a small amount of heat. It was chilly for an August afternoon.

Harry suddenly closed his book and looked up to see both of the teenage Vampires looking at him with foolish grins on their faces. Harry just scowled darkly at them. He was anxious for Hermione's letter and could not hold still for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

It had already been three days since Harry had replied to Hermione's letter saying that he was okay and that he would meet with them in Diagon Alley the day before the train left for Hogwarts. He had also asked her to please ask Dumbledore to meet him in the Leaky Cauldron that same day. Now he was just waiting for her reply.

Harry had already spent a month with the Vampires of Acinorev. His muscles were well shaped and showed a little through his shirt. You could see with just one look at him that he had matured. Apart from his new fitness Harry had gained a lot of knowledge and maturity while living with the Vampires.

Harry was still taking the muggle fighting classes with Antonio and the sword fighting classes with both Aria and Elsmere. He had greatly improved with both types of fighting. He was now able to at least last an hour fighting against Antonio before being defeated. His resistance and stamina had greatly improved and he was in a better physical condition than ever before. In sword fighting he was able to defend himself and had even been able to hit both Aria and Elsmere a couple of times each.

At first Harry had not been completely satisfied with his looks, he used to have little self-esteem and even less confidence in himself. With the help of the Vampires both of this had greatly improved. Harry had taken to his look like a fish to water and was even planning getting a tattoo and maybe even a piercing.

Right now Harry was waiting for a response for the letter he had sent her.

"Harry, could you please calm down, Hedwig will be back any minute now." Aria said trying to calm Harry down. Harry was making her anxious.

"I can't Aria, what if he says no? What if you can't go to Hogwarts? What if-?" Harry was abruptly cut off by Elsmere.

"That's enough Harry; you are making Aria and me nervous and anxious. You do not want to see an anxious and nervous Vampire trust me. Either calm down or do something to occupy your mind while you wait." Elsmere said in almost a whisper.

Harry gulped and nodded. Harry had seen Aria mad at one of the Vampires two weeks ago and had vowed to never be at the receiving end of her temper if he could help it. He was not sure what Elsmere looked like mad, because always had a strong grip on her emotions, but he was no fool and he knew that she had an even worst temper than Aria when she unleashed it, if what the other Vampires had warned him about was true.

"Okay, okay, calm down, would one of you mind sparing with me for a while. That usually keeps my mind pretty occupied" Harry asked them.

"Sure, I'll go with you." Aria responded. Elsmere ignored them and turned back to her book. Aria closed her book and stood up motioning for Harry to do the same.

They both walked up to the training room, when they entered they noticed they were not the only ones there. They made their way into an unoccupied corner and took out their respective swords. Aria's sword was 33 inches in length and the hilt was a blood red color. Aria's had a Topaz in the hilt. The Topaz was a honey-yellow color.

They both cast a charm that made it possible for them to fight without hurting one another before they both took their stance and prepared to fight. Bowing to each other they moved simultaneously and stroked. Both swords connected sending sparks frying around them. They progressed moving back and forward. The blunts of attacks were almost even out. Harry managed to hit Aria ten times and Aria got Harry twice as much. They both fought with a kind of grace that you did not see everyday.

Thanks to all his training Harry had become way more graceful and alert than ever before.

It was like watching a greatly elaborated and difficult dance in the making. After an hour and half of fighting Aria, thanks to a complicated move, managed to make Harry loose his footing and fall t the ground. That was the only thing she needed before she had her sword pointed right to Harry's heart.

"Harry, you need to pay more attention to your feet." Aria commented once she had lowered herself. She extended her hand and offered it to Harry. Harry took it and go to his feet.

"I know, at least I managed to hit you more than six times." Harry said trying to see the positive side of the situation.

Aria laughed at Harry's attempt to make himself look better. She put her arm around Harry's shoulder and led him toward his room.

"Get showered Harry, you stink." She teased him.

"Hey, so do you." Harry retorted.

"Touché" Aria responded before leaving him alone and making her way into her own rooms.

After Harry had taken a bath and was refreshed he made his way into his common room where Elsmere was still sitting in the armchair reading. She was almost finished with her book and it was very interesting. Aria had already come back from her own rooms and was also sited in an armchair, although she was not reading.

"Harry, guess who came for you?" she asked.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Hedwig!" Aria exclaimed excitedly.

"With a letter?" Harry asked.

"No, she came without any, ignoring your command to not come back without a response." Aria said with sarcasm lasing her words.

"Oh, sorry, so were is she?" Harry asked.

"She left, but we have your card." Elsmere responded handing him a folded parchment.

_Dear Harry_

_I'm so happy to hear you are okay. I am really glad that you are doing your homework, unlike Ron who hasn't done his yet. Well I think it is a great idea and yes, the Weasleys and I can meet with you two days before going to Hogwarts. I have asked Dumbledore and he says that yes he can make it to meet with you in The Leaky Cauldron. _

_Love and hope you are well_

_Hermione _

"Yes!" Harry exclaimed when he finished the short letter. It did not surprise him that Hermione had included the homework part, but he was happy that he would get to see her and the Weasleys before mounting the train station. He was both exited and nervous about the meeting with Dumbledore, although the Vampires were in general pretty confident that he would say yes, Harry was not so sure and the anxiety was killing him.

"Did she say yes?" Elsmere asked.

"No, he is cheering because she said no." Aria responded once again her voice full of sarcasm. Elsmere turned and glared at her.

"And, what exactly is your problem Aria?" Elsmere asked in a harsh tone.

"Oh, nothing, just imagining, what will happen to us if he said no. if Dumbledore says no, we will be doomed in this war." Aria replied also harshly.

"No we won't because we can always defend ourselves." Elsmere retorted.

"Says you." Aria practically screamed.

"Could you both calm down! It is obvious that you girls are nervous also, because you don't usually try to take each other's head out. Now, I won't let him say no. I would even threaten to drop out of Hogwarts, we would both know it is an empty threat, but if I play my cards right he will fall for it. Second I will not be abandoning your clan, I am an honor guest and have the same right as any of you within the clan, and one of the responsibilities that I took when I became sixteen was to protect the clan. I will not fail." Harry declared breaking up that particular argument.

Both Elsmere and Aria were gapping at him. It was not always that Harry shoed such self-confidence and both girls knew better than not to take him seriously. They knew that even if he was not serious when he said he would quit Hogwarts they both knew that Harry had taken the responsibilities that came with being part of their clan very, very seriously.

"Sorry" Aria apologized.

"Yeah, sorry Harry." Elsmere agreed.

"Don't worry, I just wanted you to know, that I will protect you guys. I have not put this much effort in learning to fight for nothing you know?" Harry asked.

"Yeah Harry, sorry once again." Aria repeated.

"Okay don't sweat it." Harry joked and changed the topic.

It was exactly two days before the train ride to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding was to leave the station at King's Cross Station. Harry Potter, Antonio, Elsmere and Aria had arrived in Diagon Alley half a week ago. Harry had already done his school shopping; he had gone with Aria to get another pet apart from Hedwig. He had decided on a blue and black snake. Harry had entered the pet's shop and had looked around for a couple of moments before his eyes had landed on the two foot long snake. The snake had identified him as once as a 'speaker', Harry still had no idea how, but the snake had known instantly the he could communicate with him, and had started talking to him. After a short conversation Harry had bought the snake and named her Maya.

Harry had also gone and had his piercing done. He had gotten a dragon fang just like Charlie in his left ear, but his had a rune designed specifically for protection. His earring will turn hut when anyone wanting to cause him harm approached, at least that was what it was supposed to do.

Harry had also gotten a tattoo. This was in the shape of yet another rune. This rune was the rune for family. Although Harry did not have a family of his own, he considered the Weasleys, Hermione and now Arai, Elsmere and Antonio part of his family and he was going to win this war, so that they could be safe and live in peace.

Right now Harry was sitting on an empty table in The Leaky Cauldron waiting for Hermione and the Weasleys to arrive. Aria and Elsmere were both nearby but Harry had told them to stay out of sight until Dumbledore knew about them. They will be following him all day without any of Harry's friends noticing; at least that is what they hoped for.

Just when Harry was about to get up and stretch his legs for a while the fireplace in the corner turned green and out came Ron, after Ron came Hermione, followed by Ginny, then Fred, then George, then Mrs. Weasley and finally Mr., Weasley. The next thing Harry knew he could see nothing but a bunch of brown bushy hair.

"Hermione, I can't breathe" Harry managed to get out. Hermione was nearly suffocating him.

"Sorry!" Hermione exclaimed before letting go of Harry. Once she could take a good look at him she gasped.

Harry could not fault her; he must be a sight to see. He had transformed from the skinny, short, glasses, and messy hair kid to a 5'11'' young adult, with a piercing on his ear, no glasses and short died hair, not to mention the muscles he had developed.

Before Hermione could open her mouth to ask anything Mrs. Weasley had enveloped Harry in a hug also.

"Well, dear wherever you were, you certainly seem to have taken great care of yourself. You are not nearly as skinny." She commented when she released him.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley." Harry responded with a smile on his face.

The other Weasley kids were still looking at him open mouthed. Fred and George were the first to snap out of it.

"Hey Harry-"Fred started.

"Had a good summer." The other twin finished.

"It was actually great guys." Harry responded just when the other Weasleys were greeting him.

"That's god to hear mate" Ron said patting his shoulder.

"Yes, Harry, it is so good to hear." Ginny agreed giving him a hug.

After Harry had greeted the rest of the Weasleys, Hermione, Ginny, Ron and him went to buy their school supplies, except Harry who already had his and was only accompanying them. After the whole day of shopping, they had meet with Neville and his grandmother and Luna, but thankfully not with Malfoy or any other soon to be Death Eater.

It was two o' clock when Harry separated from his friends. Harry had been aware of Elsmere and Aria following his all day long but luckily none of his friends had noticed. Now as Harry made his way alone both girls stepped from the shadows and joined him.

"What is the game plan?" Elsmere asked with a curious look on her face.

"Could you please tell Antonio to be in the shadows until I give the signal?" Harry asked them.

"Sure" Aria replied.

"Okay, Dumbledore must already be here so go hide." Harry said before entering the private room he had reserved just for this meeting.

As he had expected Dumbledore was already sitting in one of the chairs on the table. His twinkle in the eyes was missing and instead he looked concerned.

"Harry, where have you been you had us all worried." Dumbledore said getting up from his chair.

"I'm alright headmaster. I wanted to talk to you about something very important." Harry knew that Dumbledore did care about him, but he was still a little mad at the headmaster.

"Sure Harry, but first were have you been all summer?" he asked.

"That's part of what I want to talk to you about." Harry responded. "What do you know about the Acinorev forest?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Harry!" the headmaster exclaimed. "Are you okay? There are many dark and dangerous creatures in that forest. Please tell me you did not go there."

Harry felt anger rising in his. It was not fair to judge a whole society just because some few individuals did not fight for the 'light' side or because of what they needed to do in order to survive because they did not receive the help thy needed, or because of fears and prejudices.

"Exactly what kind of dark creatures inhabit that forest, because I did not see any in the month and a half that I spent there." Harry answered trying to keep a reign on his temper.

"Well Harry you see there are many werewolves and Vampires in that forest." Dumbledore replied as through this was obvious.

"Oh, really, and what exactly makes them dark? Is Remus a dark creature then?" Harry asked starting to loose his temper.

"No Harry! You see there are always exceptions to every rule." Dumbledore replied.

"Oh, I see." Harry replied while discretely giving the signal that told the Vampires that they could appear. When they appeared Dumbledore looked startled for about a minute before he hid it. "Are they dark headmaster?"

"Hello, you must be headmaster Dumbledore, I am Antonio, leader of the Acinorev clan and this is my daughter Aria and my niece, Elsmere." Antonio introduced himself and his family as through he had not just heard Dumbledore calling them dark.

"Hello, yes, I am, a pleasure to meet you." The headmaster replied now with the twinkles back in his eyes.

"Thank you." Antonio replied.

Aria and Elsmere sited themselves beside Harry while Antonio sat at the other side of the table next to Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, I have agreed to let the Vampires fight with us, they will not fight for us, but with us." Harry got right to the point and stressed the word 'with'.

Dumbledore's twinkle dimmed a little but then they were back full force.

"Very well, this is after all your war." Dumbledore agreed.

"Yes, it is as it is my war I would like for you to grant permission for the Acinorev Vampires to come and live in the Forbidden Forest for the school term and also to let both Aria and Elsmere attend the school." Harry declaimed.

Dumbledore looked a little hesitantly but then sighed. "Very well, but you must swear to not harm any of the students, and we will have to arrange special living quarters for both of this young ladies." Dumbledore agreed.

Harry beamed and noted. When they had finished with the details Aria and Elsmere went there separate ways to buy their school supplies. They had decided that they will wait until the train ride to surprise Ron and Hermione.

**Author's Note- Okay, this was definitely not my best chapter. Actually I did not like it. **

**For anyone who cares I hate my Spanish class. If you think my English need work you should see my Spanish, and my native language is Spanish! I absolutely suck at grammar. Ok enough about my problems. Please tell me what you think about this chapter. I honestly did not like it.**

**Now I have some questions:**

**I was thinking about having Fred and George back to finish their schooling and cause a little mischief, of course, what do you think?**

**Do you guys want to see Draco good or bad?**

**If you have any ideas or suggestions please feel free about telling me!**

**Thanks **

**Rabidus Umbra Puella **


	4. Chapter 4

_**Authors Note**_**- The author's note is at the end. Please review and tell me what you think or any ideas. **

_**Disclaimer**_**- Do you really think I own anything? Nothing, and I repeat, absolutely nothing belongs to me, this is all the property of J.K Rowling. The only things I own are my own original character. I am also making absolutely no money out of this.**

Harry walked into platform 9 ¾ with Aria, Elsmere and Antonio right behind him. They were an hour before the train was scheduled to leave. Harry said his goodbyes to Antonio who was working on the last minute details for Aria and Elsmere leaving arrangements in Hogwarts. Dumbledore had designed so that their rooms were located in whichever house they were sorted into and Antonio was helping design them. Antonia and the rest of the Vampires had already moved into the Forbidden Forest.

Harry, Aria and Elsmere picked the last compartment in the train and sat down waiting for the rest of the kids to come. The three of them would be in the same year and had chosen the same classes, except for Elsmere who had picked Arithmacy while Harry and Aria had picked Care of Magical Creatures.

When there was only five minutes to go before eleven Harry spotted a mob of redheads and one bushy haired girl in the platform. Harry was looking threw the window. When they finished saying their goodbyes Harry noticed that Fred and George also boarded the train. Harry wondered, if it was for protection or something but just shrugged and waited until either Ron or Hermione found his compartment.

Two minutes later the compartment door sliced open and three red heads plus Hermione entered. Harry was at once hugged by Hermione who then took the seat in front of him.

"Hey, mate guess who decided to come back in order to finish their seventh year?" Ron asked him not noticing Aria or Elsmere.

"Fred and George." Harry responded with a grin.

"Exactly my dear friend Harry." Fred said.

"And how exactly are you." George continued.

"But most importantly, who are there two lovely young ladies by your side?" Fred finished.

Ron turned around and noticed the teenage Vampires for the first time. Hermione had already noticed them and was silently studying them.

"Oh, guys, I want you to meet Aria and Elsmere, I have spend the whole summer with them and their family." Harry replied with a grin.

"Hello, a pleasure to meet you." Aria said extending her hand which she shook with everyone there, apart from Harry.

"Yes, a pleasure." Elsmere said with a friendly smile and also shacking everyone's hand.

"Hi, I'm Fred Weasley-"Fred was interrupted by George.

"And I'm his better looking, smarter twin, George." Elsmere smile at them but Aria had her indifferent mask on and did not show any emotion, but Harry could see amusement in her eyes.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron introduced himself.

"And I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione finished the introductions.

"Hey, guys where's Ginny?" Harry asked.

"Oh, she was made a prefect." Ron replied at once.

"Oh" was the only comment Harry said.

"So, do any of you beautiful ladies play Quidditch?" George asked the two teenage Vampires.

"Oh, yes Aria does, but I don't." Elsmere replied at once. Aria just nodded her head silently.

"What position?" Ron asked his excitement for anything that was related to Quidditch evident.

"Chaser." Aria replied in a bored voice. Harry mentally sighed at Aria's attitude, she knew she did it with everyone but it was still annoying.

"Cool!" Ron exclaimed. This started a whole conversation about Quidditch in which Aria participated only when asked a direct question and Hermione was still silent studying the two Vampires.

"Excuse me," Hermione said after about an hour into the train ride, "You did not say a last name, may I ask what it is?"

Aria smiled, she was wondering when she would ask her. Harry had told them all about his friends and Aria knew that Hermione was really curious. She had noticed the other girl studying both her and Elsmere and was patiently waiting until she spoke up. Next to her Elsmere was also smiling. Harry had also gotten a smile on his face.

"I didn't did I?" Aria asked out loud.

"No, you did not, and that was rude of you, introduce yourself properly." Harry told her now his smile getting even wider.

"Hum, perhaps I should. My full name id Aria Aliana de Acinorev and my cousin here is Elsmere Zalisca de Acinorev." Aria replied.

None of the boys gave any sign that they recognized the surname but Hermione gasped.

"As in the Acinorev forest?" Hermione asked.

"Precisely." Elsmere replied.

"Harry!" Hermione said rounding on him.

"What Hermione?" Harry asked feigning innocence.

"Did you know, did you know with whom you were?" Hermione asked.

"Yes I did Hermione, now chill, there is nothing wrong, and they are helping me fight Voldemort." Harry responded. Fred, George and Ron shuddered at the name but none of the others did.

"In that case, it is an honor to meet you, are you two the only ones going to study at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked once again talking to the Vampires.

Right then Aria decided that she liked Hermione. She smiled at the girl, a genuine smile and responded. "Yes, we are, we are the younger two of our clan."

Harry smiled when he saw Aria lowering her mask at least a little with his bushy haired friend.

"Wait what-" Fred started.

"The hell is going on here?" George finished.

Elsmere smiled and with a small, almost unnoticeable wave of her hand she took away the glamour that covered her fangs. Ron gasped and tried to move away from both girls but seeing as he was already seating that was a little hard to do. Fred and George merely grinned.

"Wicked!" they both exclaimed at once.

Ron was making a cross symbol with his fingers and trying to pass threw the compartment wall. That did it for Harry and he burst out laughing.

"R… Ron, what are you doing?" Harry finally managed to ask.

"They're V… Vampires." Ron replied still trying to get away.

"Oh, honestly Ron, grow up." Hermione said before forcefully making Ron drop his fingers and literally dragging him back into his seat, he had almost managed to stand on top of it, if it wasn't for his height Harry taught that he would have. "Don't you know anything, first of all, that doesn't do anything to Vampires, and second, didn't you hear Harry? They are going to help us in this war. So Ron you better grow up and accept them."

Ron gulped before turning to address the two Vampires girls. "I'm sorry, I overreacted, and I promise to never do something like that again."

"That's okay." Elsmere replied still smiling. Aria merely inclined her head in acknowledgement.

The rest of the train ride was spent making small talk. Hermione tried to ask Harry what he did during the summer and Harry responded that he had learned, and when she pressed for answers Harry merely said that she will see, eventually.

Half an hour before arriving at Hogwarts everyone changed into their school robes. Harry had his dagger hidden in his sleeve, the same as his wand. They were both accessible with just a flick of his wrist. Aria and Elsmere both did the same with their respective daggers. Neither of the Vampires was wearing shoes. Dumbledore had agreed to let them roam the castle barefooted after persuading him that it was their custom. Harry would also of had been barefooted if he could, he had got accustomed to having his feet free in the month and a half he had spent in the Vampire clan.

When they finally reached the school, the group of seven got into a carriage and went to Hogwarts. Harry was still surprised that Draco Malfoy had not entered their compartment once, not that he was complaining of course.

Once they reached the huge castle Aria and Elsmere separated from the rest. Professor McGonagall was waiting for them; they would have to be sorted with the rest of the first years.

Harry and his friends took a seat in the Gryffindor table. From there they could see Malfoy and his cronies. Malfoy looked incredibly smug about one thing or another. After five minutes of waiting McGonagall came in with the sorting hat and the first years plus Aria and Elsmere. She placed the hat on a stool and it started to sing. It was basically the same as last year, stand together, be united. When all the first years had been sorted, there had been nine new Gryffindors, eight new Slytherins, ten new Ravenclaws and eight new Hufflepuffs.

"Aria Aliana de Acinorev" McGonagall called. There were a few gasps but not many. Aria took a seat and McGonagall placed the hat on her head. The hat took a full ten minutes before deciding. "GRYFFINDOR!" it exclaimed for the entire hall to hear. Harry along with the rest of the Gryffindors clapped and cheered for their new member.

"Elsmere Zalisca de Acinorev." McGonagall called to the last student standing in front of the hat. Elsmere walked with her head held hi toward the stool. She took a seat and McGonagall placed the hat on her head. This time the hat made his decision after only a minute and a half of debating with Elsmere. "GRYFFINDOR!" Elsmere also joined the Gryffindor table to a round of applause.

Dumbledore stood up to make his pre-feast speech. I only have two words for you. Buen provecho." Dumbledore exclaimed excitedly.

"Has he been taking Spanish classes?" an amused Harry asked Hermione. Ron was already eating at lightning speed.

"I think so." Hermione said smiling. Dumbledore never stops to amaze her.

"Is he always like that?" Elsmere asked.

"Ever since I can remember." Harry responded.

After everyone had eaten their full and Harry felt as through he was about to explode the food vanished form the table and Dumbledore stood up from his seat at the head of the table.

"Good Afternoon. Welcome all new students and welcome back to all our old students. I would like to remind you all that the Forbidden Forest is named like that for a reason; no body is to enter it. Second Mr. Filch has asked me to you that every item bought from Mr. Weasley or Mr. Weasley is going to be confiscated at once." Fred and George smiled at that. "This year we have two new students who will be joining us for their sixth year. I ask every one of you to welcome them with open arms. Now enough I know you are retired, run along." Dumbledore finished and sat down watching as all the rest of the students made their way to their respective dormitories.

"Hey Harry, the password is 'golden flame'" Ginny who was passing by leading the first years whispered in Harry's ear.

"Thanks." Harry responded before making his way toward Gryffindor tower.

"Password" the fat lady asked once they reached her.

"Oh my, I forgot to ask Ginny for the password." Hermione said from behind him.

"It's okay the password is 'golden flame'" Harry replied.

"Correct" the fat lady said before moving aside and revealing the secret passage that led to the common room. "I'm going to sleep guys. See you tomorrow." Harry said before making his way into his dorm room with Ron right behind him. Hermione had gone to her's and Elsmere and Aria had entered their own private quarters threw a portrait in the wall.

Harry entered his dormitory and after saying a quick goodnight to the rest of the boys he feel asleep. But it was not a peaceful slumber. Harry woke up in the middle of the night shacking and with his scar burning. He did not know how, but he had managed to not wake his room mates.

With his scar still burning and knowing he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep because even if he could not remember the dream he was displaying signs of the Cruciatus Curse, which apparently Voldemort was using tonight, he made his way into the common room.

Down in the common room he saw that Aria was just entering threw the portrait hole.

"Hey, were you out hunting?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, and what are you doing out of bed, it's only three in the morning." She answered.

"I had a nightmare and woke up with my scar burning." Harry explained. "But, forget about that, where's Elsmere?"

"She is sleeping; she finished hunting before me, but Harry it is not okay, you are showing signs of the Cruciatus Curse, care to explain."

Harry sighed before answering. "I think Voldemort was torturing his Death Eaters today or something; I can feel when he casts the curses."

"What do you mean you can feel the curses?" Aria asked.

"I mean, that if he casts the Cruciatus Curse I will feel part of it, I won't feel the whole thing, but enough that it hurts pretty badly. I guess today he was not in a very good mood because he used it a lot. During the summer he almost didn't use it." Harry explained.

"Are you telling me Harry James Potter that you have been feeling the Cruciatus Curse throughout the whole summer without telling us?" Aria asked him in a deathly whisper.

"Uh, well…. I guess." Harry responded.

Aria gave a low growl before taking Harry by the arm and giving the password to the portrait guarding Elsmere's and her rooms.

"Elsmere, come down here now!" Aria said in that deathly whisper of hers. Harry gulped. He had really done it this time.

"What, I was trying to get a few hour of sleep you know." Elsmere protested once she entered the common room. The common room looked like a miniature one of the Gryffindor one. "Oh, hey Harry. What are you doing here so early?"

"That is why I called you; this moron over here has been suffering from the Cruciatus Curse during the whole summer without informing us." Aria said still speaking in that whisper that scared Harry more than any shout could.

"What?" Elsmere asked also speaking now in a whisper that made Harry wish he had never left his dorm room.

"Well, what did you want me to do, go complain to you, what would that of have achieved me?" Harry responded defending himself.

"Oh, Harry, you really are a moron!" Elsmere exclaimed now speaking once again in normal tones.

"Yes he is!" Aria had stopped whispering and was now shouting.

"Why, what good will it had done if I had gone to you?" Harry was also screaming. He did not understand why they were making such a big deal out of this. He was still shacking a little because of the curse and he just wanted to forget the whole nightmare.

"Harry come here, now" Aria said. Harry hesitantly moved toward Aria. He had no idea what Aria was planning, but he trusted her, even when she was mad.

"Harry, you have to relax okay?" Elsmere told him.

"Yes, okay" Harry replied willing himself to relax. Aria pushed him into one of the armchairs were he sat down.

"Give me your right hand please." Aria asked him. Harry complied and extended his hand. He saw from the corner of his eyes Elsmere handling Aria her wand. Aria drew a rune on top of his wrist before bending down and blowing on it. The rune glowed white for a few seconds before it lowered into his skin. From there it disappeared but Harry could still feel it. Almost at once Harry stopped shacking and his limbs didn't hurt one bit.

"Exactly what just happened?" Harry asked looking at his wrist were he could not see any rune.

"You moron, don't you remember when we told you Vampires have special abilities that wizards don't?" Aria asked, it was still a little mad at him.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with this?" Harry asked he was still confused.

Aria and Elsmere glanced at each other before they both grinned.

"Oh, Harry, Aria just did it so you couldn't feel the effects of the curses Voldemort uses, you will still see them, but you won't feel them. No wizard would be able to do that." Elsmere replied.

"Oh, thanks!" Harry replied giving each of the two teenage girls a hug.

"So, looking forward to tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"You bet!" they both exclaimed at the same time.

**Author's Note- Hope you like this chapter. Well, let's see. I already have the general idea of what exactly is going to happen throughout the year. I was wondering if any of my wonderful reader has any idea for a good summary, because I think mine doesn't catch the eyes. If any of you guys have any idea feel free to leave it in a review or Pm it to me. **

**Thanks to all the reviews!! You make my day. Well, that's it for this chapter. Next chapter is the first day of classes, so if you want to see something specific happen feel free to say so. **


	5. Chapter 5

_**Authors Note- **_**at the end peoples. **

_**Disclaimer**_**- I had this dream that I owned all the characters from Harry Potter, and then my alarm clock sounded and I woke up. Sadly I only own the characters in my dreams… I was just informed that I don't own them even in my dreams.**

Harry was sitting on the Gryffindor table eating breakfast with Ron, Hermione, Aria and Elsmere by his side. Fred and George were sitting with Katie Bell seeing as they had none of their year mates from last year. Ginny was sitting with Dean, her current boyfriend.

"Which classes do you think we will have today?" Ron asked the group at large.

"Don't know" Hermione replied.

"Hope we don't have Potions." Harry replied.

"Is that Professor Snape?" Elsmere asked Harry glancing at the staff table. Harry had told both Aria and Elsmere all about Hogwarts and her teachers.

"Yes, that's the slimy git." Ron replied through a mouthful of food.

"Hey, has anybody else noticed that Dumbledore did not introduce a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?" Hermione asked.

"That's right the seat was empty yesterday." Harry responded.

"Do you think he was unable to find one this year?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"If it was between someone like Umbridge or no one, I chose no one." Harry replied, he still had the scars on his hands from that hag's detentions last year.

"Harry did you ever tell Dumbledore about her?" Aria asked him.

"No" Harry replied shortly.

"And why not?" Hermione asked.

"Because it's in the past" Harry replied not looking at anyone in the eye.

Harry heard Hermione sigh next to him, but luckily she did not push the subject.

When only ten minutes were remaining for the end of breakfast McGonagall passes through their table giving them their schedule.

"Mondays are never good are they." Ron complained once he had read over his schedule.

Hearing Ron complain Harry looked at his own schedule. He sighed. Today they had Care of Magical Creatures, Double Potions and Double DADA.

"I really hope the new defense teacher is good." Harry murmured under his breath.

"Not the only one mate." Ron responded before going back to his food.

"Aren't you full?" Elsmere asked. Aria was once again wearing her indifference mask.

"No, I'm a growing boy and I need my food" Ron answered, although seeing as he still had food in his mouth you could barely understand him.

"Gross Ron, swallow before talking." Hermione scowled him.

"Let's go, we are going to be late." Harry interrupted before Ron could reply to Hermione and start a fight.

Ten minutes later the group was walking down the grounds toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was leading the group that contained only Aria, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Malfoy, Nott and Zabinie. Harry still did not know why either Malfoy or Nott were attending this class, as far as Harry was concerned neither of them had ever shown the smallest amount of interest on the classes. Blaise Zabinie was a completely different manner. Harry had not really talked to the Slytherin boy before, but he had never actually seen him tormenting any Gryffindors, or any other kids for that matter. Harry was not sure but by the way he was treated by the rest of the Slytherins, he was ignored most of the time, Harry had a feeling that he wasn't siding with Voldemort.

"'Ello class. Welcom' to this year Care of Magical Classes. This year we'll be leanin' about many more dangerous beasts than any other year." Hagrid told to the small group of students in front of him.

"More dangerous?" Harry heard Malfoy mumble from somewhere behind him. Harry smirked. Anything that made Malfoy nervous was okay with him. Looking around he saw that both Ron and Hermione had paled a little, as had the rest of the student's except Aria.

"Uh, Hagrid, Professor, what kind of Creatures are we talking about?" Hermione asked.

"Ah' Hermione, always asking questions ain't ya?" Hagrid asked with a smile on his face. "I have arranged to have a dragon brought here from Romania for a couple of weeks. I have also found a griffin and Albus phoenix will come for a couple of classes. Aragog, that's my acromantula, ya know, we will be going an' meeting 'er. Plus a few other'." Hagrid had a huge grin on his face at the end of his small speech.

Harry gulped, he could definitely wait to take this classes.

"Today, we'll be studying 'bout Sphinxes." Harry said. Harry's interest in the class suddenly grew up a notch. Harry had already met a sphinx on his fourth year and since then had been interested in them. He had looked for information, but he hadn't found much. "I have brought one today, for ya to see." Hagrid continue.

Hagrid left them for about a minute and when he came back he had a beautiful creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human.

"Who knows what sphinxes are?" Hagrid asked the class.

At once Hermione's hand was up in the air.

"'Ernione." Hagrid said to no one's surprise.

"A sphinx is zoomorphic figure usually depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head. It has its origins in Old Kingdom Egypt." Hermione said as trough she was quoting a book, which Harry thinking about it, she probably was.

"Very good 'ermione, five points ta Gryffindo'" Hagrid said. "Sphinx, almost always talk in riddles. The one we have 'ere, I meet in one of me travels and she 'as agreed to help me with ya guys."

Harry wondered if this was the same sphinx that he had met during the Triwizard Tournament.

"Care ta give a demonstration of your riddles, Mel?" Hagrid asked the sphinx.

The sphinx merely inclined her head and spoke confirming Harry's earlier question.

"_First think of the person who lives in disguise,_

_Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies._

_Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend._

_The middle of middle and end of end?_

_And finally give me the sound often heard _

_During the search for a hard-to-find word._

_Now string them together, and answer me this, _

_Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"_

While speaking the sphinx was looking directly at Harry and Harry tried with all his might to burst out laughing.

"Now, who of ya can tell me the answer?" Hagrid asked. This time Harry's hand was the first to be up in the air.

"Harry?" Hagrid questioned, he seemed as through he could not really believe it.

"Spider, the answer id spider, am I correct?" Harry asked with a smile talking directly to the sphinx.

"It would have been better, to let someone else answer you know?" the sphinx responded.

Hagrid's face turned from confused to understanding but everyone else, except Aria was wearing a very confused expression. It was very funny, if Harry did say so himself.

"Harry, how did you figure that out so fast?" Hermione asked him.

"Easy, I just thought hard about it." Harry lied. Harry heard a small snort from aria and glared at her.

"Who wants to approach the sphinx?" Hagrid asked the class. Nobody was willing to step forward except Aria and Harry, seeing Aria raise her hand Hagrid called on her.

"Aria, right?" Hagrid asked.

"Yes sir" Aria said before approaching the sphinx who was now smiling. "Hey Mel, how have you been?" Aria asked the sphinx to the amazement of her class mates.

"I have been very well Aria, thanks for asking. How have you and your clan been? I have not gone to visit in a very long time." The sphinx responded looking thoughtful.

"They are all just fine; in fact they are living in this forest at the moment if you want to talk to my father feel free to do so. I know he will be delighted." Aria responded smiling at the sphinx.

"Thanks Aria. I think I will do just that." The sphinx responded.

Aria laughed and hugged the sphinx before joining the rest of her very, and I mean very, confused looking classmates.

"Okay, that was odd." Hagrid said before diminishing the class.

As they were walking up the castle Malfoy stepped right behind them.

"What was that all about? Trying to impress the teacher? Little teacher's pet you are aren't you?" Malfoy sneered at Aria.

Aria suddenly stopped and turned around to face Malfoy. Harry and the rest imitated her actions.

"Oh no, Malfoy. It is Malfoy, right?" she asked feigning innocence. "I was merely greeting an old friend. You see where I come from it is considered bad manners to ignore your friends."

"Yes, and exactly where do you come from? From the gutter?" Malfoy sneered.

Harry tensed from beside Aria, but Aria simply gave him a glance that told him clearly to stay silent.

"Oh no dear Malfoy. do you know where the Acinorev Forest is?" at seeing Malfoy pale even more than he already was naturally she continued. "I come from the Acinorev Clan." As she said this, Aria let the glamour that she had on her fangs.

Malfoy gave a girl like squeak and started running as through a madman was after him all the way to the castle. Aria, Harry, Ron and Hermione were laughing, Ron actually fell to the floor and Harry had tears in his eyes.

"That was wicked!" Harry managed to say when he had gained control once again.

"Definitely." Hermione agreed.

"Did you see his face?" Ron asked.

"Yes, but I think we should really head down to Potions, if the professor is anything as you say he is, we wouldn't want t be late." Aria said.

"Right you are." Harry agreed sobering up at once. Ron and Hermione had also become serious and now Ron had a look as through he was walking to his death. Together they made their way toward the dungeons. During the way they met with Elsmere who just had a free period. They told her about Malfoy's reaction to Aria's introduction of herself and she started laughing too.

"Quiet down." The greasy haired, crooked nosed Potion's Professor said once the class was all sited. "I am surprise that some of you," saying this he looked directly at Harry and Ron and sneered, "could make it into this class. This year we will be learning advance Potions. I do not wish to see one of your pathetic excuses for potions kill everyone in this room so I expect everyone to follow instructions." Snape was talking in that slow quiet voice of his. "Now, I want everyone partnered up."

Ron partnered with Hermione. Harry partnered with Aria and Elsmere was the only one left without a partner from the Gryffindors. The Ravenclaws were only four and the Hufflepuffs were only two. In the Slytherins there were five; Malfoy, Nott, Parvati, Millicent, Blaze. Parvati and Millicent paired up and Blaze and Nott joined together as they were already sitting on the same table.

"Mr. Malfoy, it looks like the only other person without a group is Ms. De Acinorev." At this Malfoy paled and looked toward Aria. Seeing that she was already partnered with Harry and that the only one without a partner was Elsmere he paled even more. Malfoy gave a squeak and shook his head.

"And why not Mr. Malfoy?" Snape asked. Malfoy looked about to faint and just shacked his head. He looked completely demented. "Very well," Snape said. _Of course the stupid bat would change partners just for his Slytherins_, Harry thought. "Blaze, change partners with Malfoy, now!"

Blaze did as he was told and changed seats with Malfoy.

"Mr. Potter, I see that even with anew partner, you fail to follow directions. Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape said with a smirk on his face when only ten minutes remanded of class. Harry had to breathe deeply in order not to answer the greasy bastard or worse yet curse him. Harry looked at his potion and it was only a shade darker than the introduction said, in fact it was one of the best ones made on the class.

"Yes, he definite is a git." Elsmere said once they were safely out the dungeons.

"Told you." Ron commented from behind Harry.

"Let's go to lunch and forget about the whole class." Harry said making his way into the Great Hall which was already packed with student. The group of five settled themselves on the Gryffindor table and started eating.

"Guys, have you figured out who the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is this year?" Ginny asked them grinning, she had just entered the Hall followed closely behind by two identical red hairs.

"No, we have that class this afternoon, we'll see then." Hermione replied.

"I think-" Fred started grinning.

"That you won't have to wait that long." George finished also grinning.

"Why?" Harry asked his curiosity growing.

Suddenly Hermione's fork landed on the table.

"No way!" Hermione exclaimed with a smile on her face.

"What?" Ron asked her.

"Yes, what?" Harry also asked. Aria sighed before taking Harry's head and turning it so that he was looking at the staff table.

"Yes!" he exclaimed once he saw who was sitting on the table. There was a young witch who looked to be in her mid twenties. She had shocking pink hair, Tonks! Tonks saw them and grinned giving them a mischievous smile.

"What was Dumbledore thinking, hiring her?" Ron asked but with a smile I his face.

"Who is she?" Aria asked.

"That my dear fiend is Nymphadora Tonks, but don't you dare call me Nymphadora! Auror and crazy metamorphmagus at your service." Tonks said from behind them. Harry grinned at her. "And who may you be?"

"My name is Aria and this is my cousin Elsmere." Aria replied.

"So, you are one of the Vampires that are now living in Hogwarts ground?" Tonks asked.

"Yes we are." Aria replied.

"Pleasure to meet you; I have always wanted to meet a Vampire." Tonks said smiling and shacking both Aria's and Elsmere's hand. "Well I'll see you kids in twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes later Harry and his friends entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. This class was only for the Gryffindors. All the kids passed the O.W.L.s thanks to Harry and the D.A. When Harry entered the classroom he saw a petite woman who had light purple hair and dark purple eyes. Smiling to himself Harry took the seat right in front of the teacher's desk. Tonks smiled at him and stood up. When the rest of the Gryffindors had entered the classroom and taken a seat Tonks stood up to address the class.

"Good Afternoon, my name is Tonks, not Professor Tonks, just Tonks. I am an Auror." As she was talking she walked around the room looking at the students. "This year we will be using our wands, do not worry." The whole class let out a sigh of relief at this particular news. "Today we are going to start with something a little more advance than wh- Ahh" Tonks had just tripped over one of the book bags in the classroom. "I'm okay." She said getting up from the floor. Harry grinned, Tonks never changed. "As I was saying before that book bag got in the way of my precious feet, this year we are going to learn more advance stuff than what you have done so far. Anyone has any question?" no one raised their hand so Tonks continued. "During the year we will be covering both offensive and defensive spells. Today we will a shield that is five times stronger then _protego_. The incantation is as follows; '_servo mihi'_. This shield will not protect you from any of the unforgivable, but it will protect you from, lets say a slicing hex or a reducto curse, or any curse that protego is to weak to, but not from many dark curses. In order to achieve the best results you must concentrate in the need to be protected against the attack. Like this." Tonks waved her wand in an oval shape kind of was and shouted came from her wand. You could even see it forming a kind of web in front of her. "The more concentrated and powerful you are the tighter the web becomes so that you have less risk of a spell passing through your shield, the color of the shield depends on the person casting the curse. Now why don't you try?"

Harry did and only a string or two came out of his wand, you could not even see the color. None of the kids got it.

"That is alright I did not think you would get it on your first try. Why don't we try again, now one at the time?" Tonks said. "First, Aria de Acinorev."

Aria waved her wand in the oval form and a small shield, sapphire blue came out her wand.

"Very, good, we need to work on your concentration." Tonks commented. "Next, Elsmere de Acinorev."

From Elsmere's wand there came only a few strings of a blood red color that formed a small shield. Next came Lavender who also only achieved a few strings, hers were pink; Parvati achieved the same as Lavender only hers was purple. Dean only produced one string and it still did not have a definite color. Seamus had a small number of strings. From Hermione's wand a small silver shield shot forth. Neville shot a yellow miniature shield. Ron had a few red strings that formed a small shield about the size of his palm. From Harry's wand a shield the size of Tonk's, maybe a little bigger, what was surprising was the color. It was the same green as the killing curse as his eyes.

"Wow Harry that was really good." Tonk praised him. Harry just brushed.

"Now for homework, write me a twelve inch parchment telling me some of the spells and curses that this shield can protect you from and the protego one can't."

_**Author's Note-**_**Sorry this took so long. I had two more projects for school do this week, plus my dad's birthday was yesterday so I couldn't finish this chapter then. Hope you liked it. Constructive Critism is greatly appreciated. Let me know if you want to see anything happening and I will what I can do. **

**Thanks and please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer- I do not own anything.**

The rest of the week came and went with a lot of work for all the sixth years. Tonks was instantly one of the student's favorite teachers. Snape was still the same slimy git taking points off Gryffindor and giving to Slytherin. McGonagall was just as strict as always. Charms was still one of Harry's most easiest classes and in Herbology at least once a week a plant tried to eat one or more of your body parts.

Now a month had already gone into the school year. Dumbledore had slowly seen reason and now accepted the Vampires whole heartily. He had even gone as far as to invite Antonio to diner a few times.

By now the rest of the school had figured out that Aria and Elsmere were Vampires. The majority of the students had had about the same reaction as Draco and made sure to stay away from the two girls. Some people commented that it was 'cool' that they were Vampires and were always trying to spend time with the two teenagers.

Harry had only had one other dream about Voldemort and thankfully he had not felt the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse.

Harry was going once a week to the forest in order to train with Antonio. He was also continuing his lessons in sword fighting with Aria and Elsmere, he was pretty good if he said so himself. He had not seen Maya, his snake, during the month he had been back. She had told him that she was going to explore. Harry was not worried about her; she knew how to defend herself.

Today was the beginning of October and Harry and his friends were sitting in the Gryffindor table eating dinner.

"Elsmere, did you get question three on our essay for Arithmacy?" Hermione asked the Vampire.

"Uh… I really don't remember right now." Elsmere replied.

"Okay, thanks." Hermione replied before bending once again to write on the essay she had brought with her.

"Hermione, would you take a break from studying?" Ron asked said girl.

"Ronald Weasley, this is the year before our N.E.W.T.S, we have to be prepared." She exclaimed indignantly.

"Mione, the N.E.W.T.S are not until next year, chill" Harry told his best friend.

"Harry you should know by now that it is never too early to start studying." Hermione replied.

"Okay, sorry 'Mione" Harry replied rolling his eyes.

"Aria, are we going to the forest tonight?" Harry asked the teenage Vampire.

"Yes" she replied shortly.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked the girl.

"I have a feeling that something is going to happen. And soon." Aria replied.

"Uh… Aria, what the hell are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"A feeling, like you know something is about to happen, know what I mean?" Aria replied.

"Uh… no." Ron replied while going back to his food.

"Aria, is it happening again?" Elsmere asked her cousin.

"I think so." Was the only thing Aria responded.

"What exactly is happening again?" Hermione asked. Harry was going to ask the same thing when Hermione beat him to it.

"The last time my dear cousin here had a 'feeling' one of the many clan wars started." Elsmere replied.

"Uh, what exactly are you trying to say?" Harry questioned, he honestly had no idea what was going on.

"Harry, the only times I have had this 'feelings' are before something mayor happens." Aria replied in a whisper. Harry's eyes grew big and he gulped. If he had learned anything from the Vampires it was to never underestimate them.

When Hermione opened her mouth to say something Dumbledore stood up.

"I have a special announcement for all of you." He said, "At the end of the month we will be celebrating Halloween. The other teachers and I had decided to celebrate it this year with a mascarates ball. All third years and up are welcome to attend, for the lower years we have a small party in the common rooms planned."

The whole Hall started applauding at the announcement. Except Harry, he had never really liked Halloween, who would like the day their parents died?

"That's going to be fun" Ron exclaimed excitedly.

"Uh… yeah!" Harry said trying to feign enthusiasm. Hermione's look on her face told him that she did not believe him, but luckily did not press the issue.

"Um, Hermione," Ron said blushing "do you… I mean, would you like…" Ron took a deep breath and tried once again. "Hermione, would you like to go to the ball with me?" Ron finished lowering his head and looking as through he expected a no as an answer.

Hermione beamed and hugged Ron. "Ron, I thought you would never ask me out!" she said before kissing him full on the lips, right there in the middle of the Great Hall. Catcalls and whistles sounded all throughout the Hall from almost everyone watching. When Hermione finally pulled back Ron smiled at her and said.

"I'll take that as a yes then."

Harry laughed he was tired of waiting for his friends to finally get the courage to ask the other one out. It was obvious to anyone with two eyes that the two of them fancied each other since even before the Yule Ball. From the corner of his eyes he saw Fred and George hand Ginny a small bag of money. The twins had disappointed looks in their faces and Ginny was smirking.

"What was the bet?" Harry whispered to Ginny.

"Oh, I said that Ron was going to make the first move but Gred and Feorge said that Hermione was going to make the first move." Ginny replied.

Harry laughed and turned back to his friends.

"About bloody time already" he said with a grin.

Both Ron and Hermione blushed but kept the grin each had.

Today was Halloween, it was a Friday morning. Dumbledore had made it so that there were no classes after lunch. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Aria were in Care of Magical Creatures class. Today Hagrid was giving them the theory and the 'how to take care of a dragon' speech. Apparently Charlie had called to tell him that they could bring the dragons by late November or early December, and Hagrid was already preparing them.

After the surprisingly uneventful class each of them headed to their own dorms to get ready for the ball which was starting at six.

Harry stood in front of his mirror looking over himself. Harry had a black with deep blue linings robe. The robe fitted him to perfection. It was one of the may he had gotten from the Vampires. Under the robes he wore his pair of dragon hive boots. His hair which had grown a little since he had come back to Hogwarts was charmed to stay spiky all night displaying his green highlights for all to see clearly. He wore a simple blue with silver around the edges mask that only covered his eyes, not his whole face. All in all he looked dashing.

Harry turned around to face his pacing best friend.

"Ron, relax, you look great" Harry tried to calm his best friend. Ron had a red robe which matched with his hair and a gold mask covering half his face.

"What if she doesn't't like it? What if she bails? What if-?" Harry cut in at this point.

"Ron, she's not going to bail, she's been going out with you for a month already, stop it and let's go downstairs." Harry said walking toward the door. Ron hesitated a second before following him.

When they reached the common room Harry and Ron became surprisingly speechless. There waiting for them was Hermione, Aria and Elsmere. Hermione had a lavender dress that showed her well built curves, with a butterfly shaped mask. The butterfly was done in a lavender see through material. It was absolutely beautiful. She had tamed her hair and was now over her shoulder in soft waves.

"You… you look beautiful" Ron finally managed to say.

"Thank you Ron, you look pretty good yourself." Hermione replied making Ron blush.

"Hermione, if I wasn't already going with these two beautiful young women next to me, I think I would of have had to steal you from Ron." Harry said with a grin. Ron looked jealous for a second before he saw the grin on Harry's face and he also grinned.

"Yeah, well you better watch out because someone will steal your girls if you are not careful." Ron said. It was true. Aria had a light blue dress which showed her figure. Her hair was loose and was completely straight. She had charmed her blood red steaks to look light blue for the night. She wore a plain silver mask with light and deep blue feathers.

Elsmere had an emerald green dress that reached to her ankle. Her blond hair was pulled into a tight ponytail with only a few strands in her face. She wore a green mask that reached to her hair.

Harry, Elsmere and Aria had decided to go just as friends. Harry did not want to go over the experience of having to ask someone out again, the disaster in fourth year was more than enough for him, thank you very much, and both Aria and Elsmere did not feel comfortable going with anyone, they were still new and many of the inhabitants of the castle were scared of them.

"Shall we go beautiful ladies?" Harry asked the two Vampires.

"Sure." Each of them grabbed onto one of Harry's arms and he led the way into the Great Hall.

When they entered the sight was breath tacking. The Hall had the customary giant pumpkins carved into different things. Harry's favorite was the one shaped as a snitch, there was another shaped as a wand, and many different ones with different carvings. The walls were covered with what looked to be real giant spider webs and Harry wondered if Hagrid's acromantula had anything to do with that. You could not see the floor because there was fog covering it. Inside the fog you could see different colors dancing around. One second the place you were standing was orange, the next it was blue. Live bats were flying around the peoples head. The four house tables had once again been replaced by many smaller tables.

Harry led the group to the table were Ginny, Dean and the twins were sitting. They each took a seat waiting for the meal to start.

"Fred, George, where are your dates?" Harry teased the twins.

"We decided to come solo." Fred replied, but with a huge grin on his face. Harry at once got suspicious.

"What are you planning?" Harry asked the two mischievous guys.

"My dear Harry-"Fred started

"What-"George continued.

"Gave you-"

"The idea-"

"That we would plan anything?" they both finished together.

"Oh, I don't know, let's see would it be the look in your eyes or the grin on your face?" Aria asked also grinning; she had come to love seeing the twins plank someone.

"My dear Aria, you know us too well." George replied.

"Well?" Elsmere urged.

"Oh, you'll have to wait and see." Fred answered.

Just then Dumbledore stood up to address the students in the Hall.

"Welcome to the masquerade Ball. I hope you all enjoy it and dance till your feet feel like falling off. Now buen appetite." Dumbledore sat back down and marvelous food appeared out of no where.

After everyone had eaten their full the food once again disappeared to be replaced by every candy you could imagine. There was a collection of both magical and muggle sweets, including lemon drops. Harry laughed before taking one of the lemon drops and placing it in his mouth.

Suddenly a soft 'pop' could be heard from where Ron was sited. He had just taken a sip from the bottle when his hair had turned a shocking pink. Apparently he didn't notice it because he just kept on drinking. Harry burst out laughing when he saw his best friend.

"Fred, George, you are officially the best." He said.

"Why, thank you Harry." They both replied.

"What?" Ron asked seeing Harry laughing like a maniac.

"Ron, Ron your hair." Hermione said before giving in to the laughter she was trying to keep from coming.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Ron said placing a hand to his hair as if to feel if anything was wrong.

"Here Ron." Elsmere said in between giggles. Aria was already crying from laughing so hard. Ron took one look at himself and screamed.

"Bloody idiots! Put my hair back!" he screamed at the twins. The twins just smirked and responded quite calmly.

"Ronnikins, we are sorry to inform you that your hair is not going back to normal until twenty-four hours have passed."

"Ron, I am sorry to inform you that pink is definately not your color." Aria said.

Ron looked about to burst. His face was the same red that his hair used to look like.

"Come on Ron, forget you hair, let's go dance and have fun." Hermione intervened before anything could happen.

"Okay." Ron replied at once getting up and following Hermione to the dance floor.

Once Ron left George excused himself to go in search of Katie Bell, who he said had promised him a dance. Ginny and Dean had left long ago to dance. Now only Harry, Fred, Aria and Elsmere were left at the table.

"Want to dance?" Fred asked Elsmere.

"I would love to." Elsmere replied following Fred.

"Well, it's just you and me; would it be terrible to dance with me?" Harry asked Aria.

"I think it will, but I am willing to sacrifice my happiness for you." Aria said with a fake sigh before grinning. Harry also grinned and made his way to the dance floor.

Dumbledore had brought the Weird Sisters once again to play. For this dance Harry had come prepared, he had taken dance lessons.

"Didn't you tell me you were an awful dancer?" Aria asked once the song was over.

"I was, but your dad helped me improve." Harry replied. He had asked Antonio to show him how to dance the same day he had heard that there was going to be a Ball.

"Well those lessons paid of." Aria commented when they were both getting drinks.

"Thanks, you are not a bad dancer yourself." Harry said.

The rest of the night passed with Harry dancing with Aria. He had also danced once with Hermione, once with Ginny and twice with Elsmere. At precisely midnight the Ball ended and everyone made their way back to their own dorms.

Harry was so tired that he was asleep before his head even touched the pillow. It was definitely not a peaceful night. That night he had a vision, and what was worse was that this time, he could feel the curses.

_Dream:_

_Harry was looking at the blood filled floor. He felt an amusement that was definitely not his. _

"_Bring them in, he's here." He said in a cold and hissing voice which was most definitely not his. Suddenly he knew exactly where he was. He was once again in a vision. Harry prepared himself for what he was sure he was about to witness. The servant Voldemort had told to go fetch something came back and bowed before his Lord. _

"_My Lord, Lucius is bringing them now." The servant mumbled._

"_Thank you, McNair, and before I forget, Crucio." Voldemort hissed. Harry was prepared to see other people suffering, but he was not prepared to fell the curse himself. When the curse was finally lifted Harry had a second to wonder what happened with the Vampire's solution before Lucius entered the room carrying a limb form with him. Harry gasped when he recognized the man lying at Voldemort's feet. It was a man with sandy blond hair that already had a couple of grey hairs. It was the body of Remus Lupin. _

"_Enervate" Voldemort hissed pointing his wand at the werewolf at his feet._

_Remus came back to consciousness and looked around in confusion. At seeing Voldemort and Lucius his face turned to fear, then sadness then determination._

"_What do you want Voldemort?" Remus asked harshly._

"_Crucio" was Voldemort's only response. The curse lasted for a full minute that left both Harry and Remus panting and shacking. "More respect werewolf." Voldemort snapped. "Now, I will give you a choice, join me or die."_

"_Voldemort, the last time we meet, you asked me the same thing. My answer had not changed. And before you ask, I will not tell you the prophecy." Remus responded without even thinking._

"_Crucio" Voldemort said once again, this time the curse lasted for three minutes. When the curse was finally removed Remus was holding onto consciousness by only a thread._

"_Before you kill me Voldemort, I would like t tell one thing. I swear one day you will pay for all you sins, Harry will make sure of that." Remus said in a weak voice. _

_Voldemort hit Remus with the Cruciatus three more times, each lasted five minutes, before finally killing him. He ordered Lucius to send the body to Dumbledore. _

_Once Lucius left Voldemort walked over to a mirror and facing himself said. _

"_Dear Harry, I know you are here. Consider this your Halloween present." He said with a hideous smile on his face. _

_End Dream:_

**Authors Note- Please don't kill me. I had to do it. I have my reasons. Well, I left this chapter in a kind of cliff hanger didn't I? **

**Thanks to every one who reviewed! I really hope you like this chapter. Please review!! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer- I do not own anything.**

Harry woke up confused and disoriented. It took him a second to figure out why he was sweating and had tears running freely down his cheeks. Then it hit him like a cannonball. Remus was dead! When Harry was able to finally process that thought a loud scream escaped him.

The scream woke Ron who was asleep in the bed next to him. Neville, Dean and Seamus also woke up to be meet by the sight of Harry Potter shacking and rocking back and forth in his bed with tear tracks in his cheeks.

"Harry, Harry what's wrong?" Ron asked at once getting up from his bed and going to be next to his best friend.

Harry did not reply, he merely kept on crying.

"Neville, go get McGonagall. Dean, go look for a wet towel, and Seamus go wake Hermione, Aria and Elsmere." Ron instructed taking charge of the situation. The other sixth year Gryffindor boys set out to do as they were told at once. The first one to come back was Dean who had only gone into the bathroom. Ron took the moist towel from Dean and placed it in Harry's forehead. Harry calmed down a little, but was still shacking. Next came Seamus with the two teenage Vampires and the bushy-haired girl.

"What the hell happening here?" Aria asked once she had gotten a good look at Harry.

"I don't know. He woke us up with a scream and we found him like this." Ron replied in a rush.

"Oh, Harry." Hermione, who had tears in her eyes from just looking at her best friend said before walking over to his bed, sitting by his side and hugging him to her.

"Harry, Harry can you hear me?" Elsmere asked softly.

Harry gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod of his head before burrowing his head into Hermione's hair. Hermione, trying to calm her best friend down, was rubbing circles into his back.

"Harry, can you tell us what happened?" Elsmere asked the distressed boy.

Harry just shook his head and moved even closer to Hermione. Elsmere sighed. She went over to the bed and also took a seat. The only ones who were left standing up were Aria and the two Gryffindor boys, Neville had not come back yet.

"Harry, was it a vision?" Aria asked. Harry nodded his head but still wouldn't speak. "Is that why you are shacking Harry, did the protection I gave you fail?" once again Harry nodded and Aria sighed. The protection Aria gave Harry was not supposed to break. If this was any indication, Harry's connection with Voldemort was getting stronger. "Harry, can you please look at me?" Harry shook his head. Aria had had enough, she was not a patient girl to begin with, and when she was nervous her patience was even thinner. She walked purposely over toward the bed and grabbed Harry's chin from somewhere in Hermione's bushy hair. Turning him to face her she was meet by a pair off puffy green eyes and a tear stained face.

"Harry, Mr. Potter, what happened?" McGonagall, who had just entered the dorm asked. "Ms. Granger, Mss. De Acinorev, what are you doing here? This is the boys' dorm." She scowled.

"Professor, with all due respect I do not believe that is important right now, look at Harry." Hermione replied caring more about her friend than at being scolded.

McGonagall looked surprised for only a second before she came back to her senses and took control once again.

"Harry, headmaster's office now." She said. Aria helped Harry up. Together they left for the headmaster's office with Ron, Hermione, Elsmere and McGonagall right behind them.

"Minerva, what a pleasant surprise." Dumbledore said, it was obvious that he still had not seen Harry yet.

"Albus, this is not for pleasant things. Mr. Potter has apparently had another vision which has left him shaken." McGonagall said. The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed significantly at hearing this news.

"Harry, my boy, what happened?" the headmaster asked the distressed boy who was being supported by Aria and Ron. Harry did not respond. Aria sighed and took Harry's chin once again in her hand making him look at her.

"Harry Jams Potter, you better snap out of it right now!" she said in her deadly quiet voice. Harry snapped out of it at once, he knew enough to know never to contradict the Vampire when she used that tone of voice. "Harry, what was the vision about?"

"V... V… Voldemort." Harry responded.

"Obviously Harry, we know it was Voldemort, but specifics please." Aria replied.

"V… Voldemort had… had… Remus." At this point Harry's voice shook and he started crying once again. Hermione started rubbing circles into his back once again and whispering in his ear. After three minutes of silence in which Dumbledore looked his hundred and fifty something years of age, McGonagall had gone pasty white and the teenagers had a look of horror on their faces, Harry was able to continue speaking. "He… he tortured him and then… then he killed him. Oh God, Remus is dead." Harry said once again crying.

"Harry, my boy, I am sorry that you had to see that." Dumbledore said. "Harry, did you once again feel the curses?"

"Y… yes." Harry responded. Dumbledore sighed before standing up and going to his cupboard and pulling out two vials filled with potions. "Here Harry, the first one is a pain reliever potion and the second is a claming draught."

Harry took the two offered vials and swallowed them without even grimacing at the taste. At once his shacking subdued a little and a sense of calm came over him.

"Now Harry I have to call an order meeting, do you wish to stay for it?" Dumbledore asked the boy. Harry was a little surprised that he was being asked to attend the meeting but accepted anyway. "Now, I know that you lot will also be finding out about what will be tacking place in the meeting one way or another so you are also welcome to attend."

The rest of the students nodded at once, well Aria, Elsmere and Ron nodded, Hermione was crying silently with Harry in the corner.

"Minerva, will you please call the Order?" Dumbledore asked his deputy headmistress. McGonagall wiped a few tears out of her eyes and left the office to go inform the rest of the Order about the meeting.

By the time the members of the Order of the Phoenix arrived to Dumbledore's office Harry had calmed down enough to be of used. He still had a pained look in his eyes and was shacking slightly but he was coherent and had a determined aura about him.

The first one to enter the office was Snape, wearing his usual sneer and glaring at anyone.

"Play tell Albus, why you choose to have a meeting in the middle of the night when there is work to be done tomorrow?" Snape asked, apparently he was not happy at being woken up during his 'beauty' sleep.

"Severus, I assure you, I would not have called this meeting if it was not of the outmost importance." Dumbledore replied. Just when Snape was about to question the headmaster more about the matter the office's door opened once again and in walked Antonio with two of his Vampire guards/soldiers. When he spotted his daughter and niece amongst the present he grew suspicious.

"What have you done now?" he asked the two Vampire girls.

"Antonio, do not worry, they are in no trouble, and they are here because I have invited them." Dumbledore replied before Aria could say anything.

"Very well." Antonio said before taking a seat with his two guards standing next to him.

Next entered Tonks with Moody and Kringsley along with a few other members Harry did not know. Slowly the office started to become crowded, they were about thirty people gathered in the small space after all. Finally The Weasleys, minus Percy and Ginny, entered with McGonagall.

When Mrs. Weasley saw her youngest child she exclaimed at once. "Ronald, out!"

"Molly, calm down, the children are here because I have giving them permission to assist this meeting." Dumbledore tried to calm the protective mother.

"Dumbledore, you can not be serious. They are too young." Molly responded.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said before Dumbledore had even opened his mouth to respond, "How can you tell me, any of us here are too young?" Harry said motioning at the assembled kids, he continued before Mrs. Weasley could answer. "My friends and I have faced and had to overcome more burdens than even more than half of you have not. I have faced Voldemort five times in my sixteen years of life. Every single time I have had Ron and/or Hermione by my side. Together we have faced deathly obstacle curses, a basilisk; thanks to both of them I was able to make it all the way through the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Lat year we all went to The Department of Mysteries in the Ministry. We fought a dozen Death Eaters. Aria and Elsmere have been shunned by the whole world. Today they are still feared and they are here only because I convinced the headmaster to allow them the chance to have a proper education. Throughout all this experiences we have all matured. We have all seen death, we have all seen suffering, and we have all seen war. Do not tell me we are too young when I have to suffer throughout the nights getting hit with Cruciatus because of a damned scar that the bloody Dark Lord gave me at the age of one. My friends are my anchor; thanks to them I am sane. Do not tell me we are too young." At the end of his speech Harry was crying, so was Hermione who was being comforted by a close to tears Ron Weasley. Aria and Elsmere were both looking at him with something akin to pride in their eyes. The headmaster was looking at him with pride and Mrs. Weasley and Tonks had silent tears running down their cheeks.

"You are right Harry, sorry, you are not too young to be here." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Very well, now that that is settled, the reason for our meeting." Dumbledore continued. The order visible tensed at those words. It was obvious to them that what ever the headmaster had to tell them was not good news. "I regret to inform you that one of our members has been captured and killed." The order gasped in shook before frantically looking around to see who was missing.

"But surely Albus the only one missing is Re-" suddenly comprehension came to the assembled group of wizards.

"No, no Albus, Remus is with the werewolves. He was recruiting them. You sent him to recruit the werewolves. He is not dead. It is a mistake." Tonks said in a near hysterical voice.

"Nymphadora," Tonks was so distressed that she did not even notice the use of her first name. "I am sorry, but he was found and sent directly to Voldemort."

"No, no, how do you know?" she said looking directly at Snape.

"Ii was most certainly not me." Snape responded in his cold voice.

"No, it was not Snape. It was me." Harry spoke quietly but everyone in the office heard anyway.

"What?" "How?" echoed throughout the whole office.

"A vision." Harry said simply. "Voldemort waited until he knew I was there before bringing him in. Voldemort gave Remus the chance to join him and save his own life, but Remus refused and did not give in. after he killed him Voldemort spoke to me. He knew I was there so he just spoke knowing I had no choice but to listen. He said happy Halloween." Harry said with tears once again in his eyes. The whole order was speechless. They had all heard about Harry's visions of course, but it was surreal to listen to the young man recounting one. They knew what looking at a love one being tortured and killed would drive almost anyone insane, but in front of their eyes there stood Harry Potter, who did not look insane, instead he had a determined look in his eyes.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPPHPHPH

Harry Potter stood with his best friends by his side. Remus' burial had just passed. The majority of the Order had already left. Only the Weasleys, Tonks and Harry and his friends remained. Tonks was crying silently. Not long after the Order had left Dumbledore's office after the meeting Tonks had confessed to the teenagers the growing relationship between her and Remus.

Harry walked alone toward Remus' tombstone. He knelt before the stone and whispered.

"I promise you Remus that I will train with all my might. I will be ready, for when I meet Voldemort he will regret the day he messed with my family, with the ones I love. I promise you that your sacrifice was not in vain."

With those parting words Harry rose up and turned his back to the stone marked.

"_Remus John Lupin_

_1960-1996_

_Beloved friend_

_Marauder for ever_

_May you find peace and harmony"_

**Authors' Note- okay, were to start. My reason for killing Remus, yes I do have a reason. Remus was the last link that Harry had toward his father and mother. He was his only 'father figure' left for him. I needed for something that would push Harry to the very edge, something that would give him that final motivation needed to actually kill Voldemort. Somebody really close to Harry had to die in able to accomplish that, and seeing as Hermione and Ron were in Hogwarts at the time that left Remus.**

**Sorry if you were expecting something better for my reasons, but that is why I did it. **

**I have discovered that I actually like being evil once in a while. I have to admit that I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I am really not good at this tragic things. Seeing as this is my first multi-chaptered story, I am still learning, so please excuse for my poor attempt at tragedy. **

**Love all your reviews!!! Please review!!!! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Note- At the bottom.**

**[ - Parseltounge (sp?) **

**Disclaimer- I've said it a thousand times, I'll say it again. I own absolutely nothing.**

"Shit" Harry said as he received yet another kick to his ribs.

"Harry, what is wrong?" Antonio asked his young pupil, "You seem distracted."

"I'm sorry Antonio." Harry responded getting back into position. He was in the forest taking one of Antonio's weekly defense lessons.

"No, get up." Antonio said straightening up and motioning for Harry to do the same. "Take a seat." He said sitting on the floor.

Harry did as he was told and sat on the floor with his back pressed against the bark of a tree.

"Harry, what is wrong?" Antonio asked again.

"Nothing." Harry mumbled not looking Antonio in the eyes.

"Harry look at me." Antonio said. Harry reluctantly did as he was told and raised his head so that he was looking Antonio in the eyes.

"Harry, what is wrong?" Antonio asked yet again.

Harry sighed before answering. "Dumbledore just told me that I would have to spend the Christmas Holidays at the Dursleys' to restore the wards protecting me."

"And what is so wrong with that. Surely you would miss them seeing as I deprived you of the time you deserved to spend with your love ones over the summer." Antonio responded.

"Yeah." Harry sighed. "But I will still miss my friends, a lot."

Antonio looked sympathetic ad said. "Do not dwell on it, it is only for three weeks and then you will be back."

"Yeah, I guess you are right." Harry responded.

"Now, what else is in your mind?" Antonio asked.

"Maya, I haven't seen her since the beginning of term. I'm worried."

"She is your snake is she not?" Antonio asked.

"Yes, have you seen her?"

"A little over two weeks ago I saw her in this forest. Do not worry too much for her, she knows how to defend herself."

"I really hope you are right." Harry responded.

Antonio looked up at the sky and rose to his feet. "Well Harry, it is getting pretty late, you better go back to the castle."

Harry took Antonio's offered hand and rose to his feet. "Thanks Antonio." Harry said while fastening his cloak around him. It was the second week of November and it was COLD!

"Don't mention it. Next week, same time." Was Antonio's only reply.

Harry smiled and made his way to the castle. While he walked back he passed by the lake and had to stop. The sight before him was simply breathe taking. The sunset looked beautiful reflected in the lake's clear water.

Harry sat down in one of the benches near the edge of the lake and started thinking.

Just this morning Dumbledore had called him to his office to tell him that he would have to spend two weeks of the Christmas break at Private Drive in able to keep the wards that were his only protection against Voldemort functioning, seeing as this past summer he had not spent the limited amount of time there.

Harry sighed. He would have to spend his whole Christmas either looked away in his room or doing chores. What a great holiday, not to mention watching Dudley opening his presents and he being made fun of because his 'freaks' of friends had not gotten him anything.

Harry and his friends had already agreed to exchange presents once Harry came back, which was the day after New Years'.

Then his mind started wandering to the war and to the deaths that were being reported daily in the _Daily Prophet_. Just last week Tonks' mother and father were found dead in their houses. That had bee a very traumatic experience for Tonks, but not exactly unexpected, after all Andromeda's sisters were none other than Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and she was considered the 'blood traitor' because she had married a muggleborn wizard.

Harry was so deep in his thoughts that he did not notice that something was making its way toward him, until the thing was wrapped around his arm.

Harry jumped about a mile when he felt something wrap itself around his left arm. He screamed before looking at his arm. He sighed a sigh of relief when he saw a very familiar looking black and blue snake wrapped around him. He grabbed the snake and hugged it to himself.

[I am so happy to see you! I was so worried! Where have you been? Harry said in a rush.

[Calm down Harry. I was in the forest meeting many kinds of interesting creatures. I am sorry I made you worry. Maya responded sticking her tongue out and gently touching Harry's cheek as if in a kiss.

[Please, don't leave me for such a long time again. Harry replied stroking his little snake.

[I won't. Maya responded before making herself comfortable wrapped around Harry's wrist.

Now smiling Harry made his way to the castle with his little snake.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as soon as he had entered Gryffindor Tower.

"In the forest" Harry responded sitting down in an empty armchair near the fire.

"At this time? Antonio never keeps you so late." Hermione argued.

Harry smiled. Hermione was still the same anxious and curious girl she was when she was eleven. "Hermione, I was near the lake."

Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew that the Lake was one of Harry's favorite spots in the school.

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked noticing that his red-headed friend was not present.

"Serving detention." Hermione answered. At seeing Harry's questioning glance she sighed and elaborated. "After you went into the forest he and Malfoy got into a fight and Snape was the one who noticed. As you can probably guess Ron ended with detention and points off while Malfoy received points for 'defending himself'. Honestly he was the one who started in it in the first place."

"Exactly what was the fight about?" Harry asked as he took out his Charms textbook, a parchment and quill.

"OhaboutVampires." Hermione mumbled almost inaudibly.

"What?" Harry asked not paying to much attention to Hermione as he was preparing to start his homework.

"About Vampires." Hermione replied a little louder.

Harry abruptly turned around and almost fell from his chair. "What exactly did he say?" he asked in a falsely carefree tone of voice.

"He insulted them." Seeing that Harry was getting ready to march out the Tower and go look for Malfoy himself she quickly got up and grabbed his wrist. "Harry no, Ron already defended them and Malfoy won't be stupid enough to mention anything again, not if he likes his nose the way it is." Hermione said. She dragged Harry back to the armchair and made him sit down.

"Harry, just let it go. It's not wor- AHH" Hermione shrieked when he felt something moving around her arm. She tried to hit whatever it was but Harry, who was grinning, grabbed her other hand and gently shook his head.

"'Mione, meet my pet snake, Maya." Harry said as he took the snake from around Hermione's arm and wrapped her around his own.

"Oh, so this is the famous Maya. Nice to meet you Maya." Hermione said once her heart stopped beating a thousand times a second.

"She says that it is also nice to meet you and that she is sorry for scaring you." Harry said for the snake, well the first part at least. The truth was that Maya was having a good laugh right about now because of the way Hermione screamed.

"Oh, that's okay." Hermione replied sitting in front of Harry and also starting on her own homework.

"Hey, were are Aria and Elsmere?" Harry asked Hermione after about half-an-hour into their study time.

"Oh, they went to the forest to hunt." Hermione responded not even looking up from her work.

"Oh, okay." Harry replied and once again occupied himself with his homework.

An hour later Ron came in with a scowl on his face.

"I hate Snape." He murmured before taking the seat opposite Harry and closing his eyes.

"What did he have you do?" Harry asked his best friend.

"He made me sort out the beetles. I swear there were more dead beetles than alive ones." Ron responded.

"I believe you." Said Harry completely serious.

"Yeah, so how did training go? Ron asked.

"Horrible." Harry responded.

"Why?" Ron asked as he took out his own homework and started writing on it.

"I was distracted and got my butt kicked." Harry responded before sighting.

"Why were you distracted?" Hermione asked.

"Because of the news Dumbledore gave me this morning." Harry replied.

"What did he say, you never actually told us." Ron commented.

"He said that I had to spend my Christmas Holidays with the Dursleys."

"WHAT?" that was Hermione.

"But you hate the muggles! How could he do that?" Ron exploded. Harry smiled at his two best-friends. They both knew how much he despised having to go home to Dursleys every summer.

"Since I was taken away from my 'home' before the wards could fully recharge, I have to spend at least two weeks there in order for them to keep Voldemort away." Harry responded.

Hermione looked at him with sympathy. "Harry, it's for your protection."

"Yeah mate, what's two weeks if the other option is having a crazed dark lord attacking you?" Ron said with a grin on his face.

Harry also grinned. "Yeah, you are right. What's two weeks?" he said before changing the subject. "So I heard Ginny broke up with Dean?"

"Yeah, said she wasn't 'feeling it'" Ron said.

"Honestly Ron, what your sister said was that there was no real love so she broke it up." Hermione scolded her boyfriend.

"Same thing." Rom murmured.

Harry had to laugh. Some things never change.

Hphphphphphpphphpphphphphphpphphphpphphphphphphphphphphphphpphphpphphph

The next day at breakfast-

"How did the hunting go last night?" Harry asked the two Vampires while he filled his plate with bacon and eggs.

"I t was good. Sorry we didn't come back last night, but we decided to stay the night with the clan." Elsmere explained.

"Oh, that's okay." Hermione responded.

"So what did we miss while we were out?" Aria asked.

"Nothing really. We were just doing homework." Ron answered after he had finished chewing. It looked that his manners were improving thanks to Hermione.

"Okay." Elsmere said before starting on her breakfast.

About fifteen minutes later the doors to the Great Hall opened and the twins entered. They took a sit right in front of Harry, next to Aria and Hermione. As soon as they sat down they started laughing.

"What did you do?" Aria asked. She was already smiling. Did I mention that she loves Fred and George's pranks?

"Oh nothing, fair lady." George answered.

"Don't tell me that, I know that look on your faces." Hermione told the twins in a what you would call 'mother' tone of voice.

"What face?" Fred asked with the face of someone completely innocent.

"That one." Hermione responded now glaring at them.

"Gred, Forge, what did you do?" Ginny asked as she turned around to look at her brothers.

"I believe you will see our masterpiece in exactly thirty seconds." George answered.

"What masterpiece?" Ron asked.

Ron's question was answered in precisely thirty seconds as a livid looking Snape marched through the great doors. The hall was silent for a second before everyone, even the Slytherins, burst out laughing. Snape, the dark, gloomy, git of a potion master's hair was a shocking lilac color with his skin neon pink. Over his head words were writing themselves every twenty seconds. At first it said something like 'have a nice day' and at other times it said 'you are my sunshine, my only sunshine'.

Harry had just taken a sip from his pumpkin juice and was now having a coughing fit. Fred was thumping him on the back while everyone else at the table was roaring with laughter. Ron and Aria actually had tears in their eyes. Elsmere was doing no better, and neither was Ginny. Hermione tried to look disapproving, but her lips twitched into a kind of smile before she too gave up and started laughing.

"Fred, George, you two are officially my heroes." Ron said in between laughs.

"We do try Ronnickins." They both responded at the same time.

Snape was glaring at all the laughing students. With a scowl on his face he marched straight to Gryffindor to table until he was standing directly behind the twins, who once again had a face of pure innocence.

"Mr. and Mr. Weasley follow me. NOW!" he thundered.

"But, professor, why?" they both asked at the same time.

"I know very well that the two of you were behind this little plank. Now follow me." Snape said in a deathly whisper.

"Severus, really, you have no proof that they were the ones behind this." McGonagall, who had just reached the table said. Although if you asked Harry, he would have sworn that she knew perfectly that it had in fact been them.

"I know they did it." Snape argued.

"Maybe, but they are innocent until proven guilty." She said.

Snape growled in defeat and marched once again out the hall with the rest of the school's laughter behind him.

"Excellent spell work Mr. and Mr. Weasley. Ten points to Gryffindor." Harry heard the transfiguration professor murmur as she made her way back to the Head Table.

**Authors Note- I know, I know, nothing really happens in this chapter. The truth is that I had a massive author's block, and this is what I came up with. I already have the next two chapters planned in my mind. I only have to write them down. **

**So people, please tell me what you think. Whether it is constructive critics', a simply 'really good story' or an 'I hate it', please tell me what you think. **

**Now, thanks to everyone who reviews, you have no idea how happy you make me LOL. **

**Tell me any suggestion you may have for the story, or an idea, or something you want to see mentioned, it could be anything, anyone. **

**I have a question. Do you want to see Ginny paired up with someone? Please not Harry, but anyone else you think will be a good match for Ginny please tell, because I was thinking someone but am not so sure. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Authors Note- At the bottom.**

**- Parseltounge (sp?) **

**Disclaimer- I've said it a thousand times, I'll say it again. I own absolutely nothing.**

As it turned out neither Snape's skin nor hair changed back to normal until the end of the week. The whole week Snape could be seen in the library, whenever he wasn't teaching, looking up a way to reverse his skin and hair color.

The twins were officially named the Gryffindor heroes and everywhere they went the students cheered, even a few Slytherins. Snape never actually found any proof that the twins were the ones behind the prank, although everyone knew it, he never found actual proof.

Ron and Hermione had gotten used to Maya, and by now the whole Gryffindor residents had gotten used to seeing a black and blue snake Slytherin through their tower at random times.

Right now Harry and his friends were in the Care of Magical Creatures. It was the end of November and the dragon had finally arrived at Hogwarts. It was a baby dragon of about four feet in height. The dragon was pure silver with brilliant blue eyes. It was truly a beautiful creature.

Right now the class was drawing the gigantic baby and labeling its body parts. It was one of the few uneventful classes that Hagrid gave during the school year.

"Hey scar head; I heard that Dumbledore kicked you out for the Christmas Holidays." Malfoy said as the group was making its way back to the castle at the end of class.

Harry took a deep breath and turned to face Malfoy.

"Ferret boy, I will be going to spend my Holidays with my family while you are staying here. What happened, your mother finally had enough of your scent and decided to keep you away?" Harry asked lying through his teeth.

Malfoy's face turned a little pink around his cheeks. "You wish Potty." He said before walking away from the group.

Harry's happy mood had disappeared in an instant.

"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione who sensed his sudden change of mood asked him worriedly.

"Yeah 'Mione, I'm okay." Harry replied. Hermione did not look convinced but before she could say anything Ron changed the subject.

"Harry, do you want to go flying later in the afternoon, me and the twins are going."

"I'd love to." Harry responded. "Want to come?" he asked Aria who was beside him with a far away look in her eyes. She did not respond, merely looked straight ahead. "Earth to Aria." Harry said waving a hand in front of her eyes. Aria did not respond.

"Hey Aria." Ron said pocking her on the shoulder. Aria gave a small squeak and turned around.

"What, what?" she asked looking wildly around.

"Nothing Aria, you left us for a few minutes, what were you thinking about?" Hermione asked the girl.

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking about what Malfoy and Harry said." Aria responded.

"Yeah, what about it?" Harry asked.

"Well, you do have a point, why would Malfoy want to stay over through the Holidays? Surely he would enjoy being spoiled rotten by his mother."

Harry thought about this for a second. Aria did have a point. Malfoy was always gloating about his family and all they gave him. Why would he choose not to go home? Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Ron.

"Forget about Malfoy, Aria, what do you say to a game of Quidditch this afternoon?" he asked the teenage Vampire.

"No thanks." Aria responded. She absolutely hated the game.

"'Mione?" Ron asked his girlfriend with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"No way Ron, you know I can't stand to fly." Hermione replied at once. Ron sighed before brightening up once again.

"I'll just ask Elsmere." He murmured before literally running all the way into the castle.

"Hey Elsmere, do you want to go with us to play Quidditch today at five?" Ron asked the Vampire when he had reached the Common Room.

"Sure, why not?" she replied with a shrug.

"Wicked." Ron replied before going up to his room to change. After all it was already four thirty and he did not want to be late.

"Ron, calm down" Harry said when he entered his room. Ron was too exited for his own good.

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say mate" Ron responded completely ignoring Harry.

Harry grinned and went to his trunk to get his broom and Quidditch gear. Once he was ready he went down the stairs to meet with the girls. Ron was right behind him.

"Ready?" he asked the girls.

"Yes" Elsmere replied, Aria merely glared at him. Harry smiled and ignored the Vampire completely turning his attention to the other girls.

"'Mione, are you coming?" he asked her.

"Yeah sure, I'll watch you guys play." She responded shrugging. Harry smiled and addressed the unhappy teenage Vampire.

"Now, Aria, are you coming with us or are you staying here all alone?" he asked in a teasing voice. He knew that she wouldn't stay all alone.

"You'll pay." She hissed before grabbing her coat and walking out the portrait hole.

"Sure I will." Harry murmured following the girl out the common room.

**At the pitch-**

"Okay, the teams are as follow. In one team Ron as keeper, George as beater, Ginny as chaser and Harry as seeker." Fred said. "In the other team, Elsmere as keeper, me as beater, Katie as chaser and, wait we need a seeker. Who can play seeker?" Fred asked the students who were assembled in the stands. Some were doing homework, others were talking around themselves and a handful were watching the kids getting ready to play the game bellow.

No one got up.

"Well, thank you very much." Fred murmured. "Okay, we need a seeker, who knows anyone who would be willing to play with us?"

Ginny raise her hand. Fred motioned for her to speak. Harry had to smile at the idea of Fred acting like an actual coach. Fred was the elected Captain for this year's Quidditch team and it was only a few times when he acted serious. This was not a team practice but the whole team was present for the game.

"Blaise Zabini." Ginny said. Ron looked at her as through she was crazy. No one else reacted too badly at the mention of the Slytherin. Harry had gotten to know the kid during the year and he was a good guy, and he was not on Voldemort's side. His parents were but he wasn't. Fred and George already knew that Ginny was spending her time with the sixth year Slytherin.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Blaise Zabini, Ron, you know the Slytherin sixth year?" Ginny asked as through her brother were stupid.

"There is no way I am playing with a Slytherin." Ron said in a raised voice.

"Yes you are." Ginny replied now glaring at her brother.

"No I am not." Ron responded stubbornly.

"Yes you are. And I hear another word against it; I swear I will use the Bat Bogey Curse on you." Ginny threatened.

"No I am not why would you even want him to play with us?" Ron accused. Harry at once knew that Ron had just made a mistake because Ginny's face turned the same color as her hair.

"Ron-" Harry tried to warn but Ginny was already responding.

"Because Ronald, he is my boyfriend!" she responded with a glare that would put Snape to shame.

Ron could only stare at his little sister in horror.

"Ha, ha. What a good joke. Ginny come on, your boyfriend?" Ron asked incredulously. Harry once again knew that that was the wrong thing to say by Ginny's reaction. Her face turned an even deeper red and she raised her wand.

"I assure you, dear brother of mine that it is no joke." She said pointing her want at Ron's face.

"What? Fred, George, are you going to allow our little sister to date a Slytherin?" he asked now turning to the twins for backup.

"Sorry brother, but this is Ginny, and we are not stupid enough to try and get in the middle of her love life." George answered.

"What? Harry, back me up her." Ron pleaded; his sister was now taking a step forward.

"Sorry mate, but I have absolutely no problem with Blaise." Harry responded taking a step backward from his best friend and little sister.

"Thanks mate, it's always nice to know that you have my back." Ron said also taking a step back from his sister. "Ginny, you win, okay? You win, please just don't curse me."

Ginny stopped and smiled at her brother. "I knew you would see it my way, now I am going to go get Blaise, I'll be back in a second." She said before leaving the pitch.

"Thanks guys for all your support." Ron told his friends.

"Ron, you are the only one stupid enough to cross your sister." Harry said.

"And honestly Ron, Blaise is a great guy. Give him a chance." Hermione told him.

"How would you know that he is a great guy?" Ron asked his girlfriend suspiciously.

"Oh, honestly. I had Ancient Runes with him last year, and the year before that, and the year before that." Hermione responded.

"Ron, you should have seen your face when you thought Ginny was going to curse you. It was hilarious." Elsmere commented.

"Shut up" Ron murmured.

"But Ron, it really was." Fred said with a snicker.

"Yea Ron, perfect for a picture." George agreed.

"Cut it out guys." Hermione defended Ron.

"Sure thing Herm." They both replied at the same time.

"Do not call me that." Hermione said through clenched teeth. Everybody knew that Hermione absolutely hated when someone called her 'Herm'.

Just then Ginny arrived with Blaise Zabini.

"Hey Blaise, you are playing seeker." Harry said as soon as the tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes reached them.

"Sure thing Harry, let us see who the better seeker is." Blaise responded. Harry grinned he knew that Blaise liked to play as a seeker but he didn't get the spot on the team because Malfoy's father bought him his place.

The game was going excellently. All that changed after an hour of flying. The sky was beginning to darken and it was getting harder to see. The points were the same for both teams with a hundred points each and neither Harry nor Blaise had seen the snitch.

Suddenly Harry saw a glow of gold from the other side of the pitch. Without thinking twice he changed directions and flew directly toward it with Blaise right behind him. Harry's fingers were just a millisecond from catching the small and fast ball when suddenly a red spell came their way. Blaise managed to get out of the way of the spell but Harry wasn't fast enough. Just when his fingers closed around the tiny ball the spell hit him and he was stupefied.

Without the freedom to move his limbs Harry started to head toward the ground at a surprisingly fast speed. The rest of the players tried to catch him before he reached the ground but they were too high in the air, seeing as Harry had dived in order to catch the snitch.

Harry still had his eyes opened and he could see that he was rapidly approaching the ground. Unable to move his hands he was not able to use wandless magic to break his fall.

Hermione and Aria watched in fright as Harry fell. They both quickly got up and started running toward the pitch completely forgetting that they were witches and could use magic.

After what seemed and eternity Harry landed on the ground in a heap. Hermione and Aria were the first to reach him followed by the Quidditch players.

"Oh my god, Harry!" Hermione said once she had reached Harry's side and saw that he was lying with his right leg and left hand in an unnatural position.

"Ennervate." Elsmere said as soon as she also had reached Harry's side.

As soon as Harry was reawakened he screamed. He tried to get up but his chest hurt.

"Harry James Potter, don't you dare move." Aria said. She did not like Quidditch for a reason.

"Sorry." Harry said rolling his eyes at the overprotective Vampire.

"Harry, don't move. We're going to levitate you all the way to the infirmary okay?" Ron told his best friend.

"Whatever." Harry managed to say, his breathing was labored and he thought that maybe he had a broken rib or two,

"Levicorpus." Blaise murmured pointing his wand at Harry. Harry's body levitated three feet above the ground in the same position as when he had been on the floor.

"If you bump my head against any walls, I will hex you till next week." Harry murmured before loosing consciousness.

"Who was the one who cast the spell?" Ginny asked the two witches who were sitting at the stands during the game.

"We, don't know, we couldn't see to that direction." Aria responded looking worriedly at Harry who was floating a couple of feet in front of them.

"I bet it was Malfoy." Ron growled from Hermione's side.

"You can't be sure." Katie said but without any real conviction in her voice.

"Yeah, but it was probably him." Fred said.

"I agree." George agreed.

"Me too." Blaise said from the front of the group.

"And why would you be against Malfoy?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Has, it ever occurred to you Ron that not all Slytherins are evil? For your information I do not like Draco. Name one time when I have insulted any Gryffindor?" Blaise asked the red head.

Ron thought about that for a minute but at the end had to conclude that Blaise had never actually insulted any of them. So he opted to stay silent instead of answering.

"Thought so." Blaise whispered when Ron did not respond.

"Hurry up, will you?" Elsmere said getting tired of their slow pace. Elsmere was usually the most peaceful and relaxed of the two Vampire girls but when one of her friends was in danger you did not want to cross her.

The group began to walk faster at once. In five minutes they had already reached the infirmary.

"What is the meaning of this?" Madam Pomfrey asked as soon as they had entered the infirmary.

"Madam, its Harry." Aria said at once.

"What has the boy gotten into this time?" the infirmary matron said with a sigh.

"Well… we were playing Quidditch-" Ron was interrupted by the healer.

"What were you doing playing Quidditch? As far as I know, there was no practice scheduled for today."

"That is really not important Madam, but the thing is that we were playing and then this stunning spell came out of no where-" started Fred only to be interrupted by his twin.

"And Harry got hit, and he fell down about twenty feet."

"Oh my, where is he?" she asked looking around.

"Here." Blaise said making Harry float into the infirmary, he had stayed outside with Harry.

"Put him on the bed, please." The matron said. As soon as Harry was placed safely on a bed she started casting diagnosis spells left and right.

"Will he be alright?" Hermione asked with a lone tear running down her cheek.

"Yes, dear, although he has two broken ribs, one fractured, a broken wrist and ankle, and a concussion." Pomfrey replied.

"When will he wake up?" Aria asked while Madam Pomfrey was healing Harry's broken wrist and leg.

"I would say that in about half an hour or so, but he will have to stay the night, so that his ribs will heal completely." She answered.

After she had bandaged Harry's chest she left to go look for some potions and left the teenagers looking after Harry telling them that if he should wake up before she came back they were to go fetch her immediately.

"Hey Harry how do you feel?" Elsmere asked as soon as Harry had opened his eyes.

"As if I had just fallen of my broom." Harry responded with a grin.

Everyone sighed a sigh of relief when they saw that Harry was okay.

"Mr. Potter, you are a very lucky young man. A fall such as that one would have caused you to break your neck. I expect to not have the honor of seeing you here until at least the end of the year." Madam Pomfrey said while checking him over.

"Yes, ma'am." Harry said rolling his eyes. "When can I leave?"

"Tomorrow, if you are lucky." The nurse replied not even looking at him.

"Why?" Harry asked in a pleading voice.

"Because, your ribs need time to heal." The nurse replied at once with a note of finality on her voice.

Pomfrey gave the kids a couple of minutes alone and left for her office.

"Please bail me out of this prison." Harry pleaded with them.

Fred and George grinned. "Are you crazy?" George said with a fake shudder.

"She would have our head if we even tried." Fred finished.

"Thanks guys." Harry murmured glaring at them.

"It was your own fault. I told you not to play that dreaded game." Aria said sitting herself at the edge of Harry's bed.

"Yes, I know. According to you I should spend all my time studying or training." Harry said looking her directly in the eyes.

"No, you can have fun. But why do you choose to play such a dangerous game? It would be a little ironic if you died riding a broomstick. After all after escaping from a Dark Lord five times that would be a very idiotic way to die." Aria said taking one of Harry's hands.

"I know, I'll be careful, I promise." Harry responded giving her a winning smile.

"You better, you scared me half to death." Hermione said.

"I'm sorry 'Mione, but it really wasn't my choice." Harry said "Anyway, did any of you catch who threw the spell?"

"No, sorry." Blaise answered.

"That's okay, but Blaise I think you better be more careful because I do not think that that spell was meant for me." Harry said.

"I will." Blaise agreed. Just the Madam Pomfrey came back to the infirmary and made all the kids leave. Harry fell asleep soon after that.

**Authors Note- Sorry this chapter took so long, but I did not have my computer during the whole week so I couldn't write until last night and then I had to rewrite part of this chapter because I did not like the way it turned out and to top it all out, I'm sick. I'm still not too happy with it so please tell me what you think. **

**I have to apologize to the people I couldn't respond their reviews. I'm really sorry but I just didn't have time during the past week. I'll say it now THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS!!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!! IT MAKES MY DAY… MY WEEK…!!**

**The day they were leaving for their home for their Christmas Holidays.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything!!**

The next day Harry was not allowed to leave the infirmary because Madam Pomfrey claimed that he needed time for his ribs to completely heal and his broken leg to once again adjust to walking

The next day Harry was not allowed to leave the infirmary because Madam Pomfrey claimed that he needed time for his ribs to completely heal and his broken leg to once again adjust to walking.

It was a Friday and Harry spent the whole day working on his homework and being bored out of his mind. It was about half an hour after dinner when Harry heard the infirmary's nurse shrieking. The next thing he saw was her standing on top of one of the beds with a broom on her hand. She was hitting the floor with the broom every couple of seconds.

Harry was watching bewildered Madam Pomfrey's actions, he had never seen the matron like this and he was starting to wonder if she had completely lost her mind. Then Harry heard it a hissing noise from under his bed.

Harry, get the crazy woman away from me please, she will kill me. Maya said making her way up Harry's bed.

Harry looked at his small blue and black snake in confusion, how did she get here?

"Madam Pomfrey, what are you doing?" Harry asked the still crazed looking nurse.

"Do not be alarmed Mr. Potter, but there is a snake in the infirmary. Do not worry; she will be taken care of shortly." Pomfrey said hitting the floor a couple of more times for good measure.

By now Harry was trying desperately to keep the laughter from showing on his face.

"Um, Madam, do you remember that I am a parseltounge?" Harry asked trying to act innocent.

"You are? Oh, yes of course you are. Do you know where the snake is?"

"Yes, she is around my wrist, she is my pet snake. Madam Pomfrey meet Maya." Harry said extending his wrist so that the snake curled around it could be seen by the nurse.

"Oh… next time please let me know young man." The nurse said before getting down from the bed and handing Harry a couple of potions without looking at his wrist.

"Finally, I thought she was never going to let you out of that place." Ron said when Harry took the seat in front of him that afternoon at dinner.

"Me too." Harry agreed before putting a small amount of food on his plate.

"Harry, is that all you are going to eat?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"Yes, why?"

"Harry, you really are too skinny for your own good. You should start eating more." Elsmere said.

"But, I am not very hungry." Harry argued before starting to eat what was on his plate.

"Harry, dad said that if you were felling okay, that you should go see him because he has something important to tell you." Aria said after everyone was finished eating.

"Sure, I'll go, will you and Elsmere go with me?" Harry replied.

"Yes, we have to go hunting anyway." Aria agreed with a small smile on her face.

"Excellent." Harry said also smiling.

"See you 'Mione, see you Ron" Harry said before starting to make his way toward the forest with the two teenage Vampires right behind him.

"Good afternoon Antonio" Harry said as soon as he had reached the clearing in which the Vampires were staying. It was a really beautiful place. There was a small stream running through the side with wild flowers around it. Antonio was wearing his usual white outfit.

"Hello Harry." Antonio greeted. "You are most probably wondering why I have asked you to come here on such short notice."

"Yes I am." Harry replied.

"Well Harry, Aria told me that you are suffering from visions at less increasing intervals than you were. She expressed the concern that your connection with Voldemort was getting stronger. I agree, that is why I have talked with the best Oclumens in the clan and have asked him to teach you the complex art of Occlumency."

"Um, well… thanks." Harry said uncertainly, his past experience with the subject were not good.

"I know that the last time you tried the teacher and the students were not competent and you did not click together."

_That's and understatement._ Harry thought.

"But, do not worry," Antonio continued, "I assure you that this teacher will help you greatly and I have faith that you will get along greatly. Will you like to meet him?"

"Okay" Harry said this time with more certainty in his voice.

"Don't worry Harry, we won't let nothing happen to you." Aria assured him.

"Yeah Harry, relax." Elsmere commented.

"Thanks." Harry said grinning at the two Vampires who he felt were like sisters.

Five minutes later Harry saw a looming figure coming their way. Soon Harry could see a young looking guy with red hair and brown eyes.

"Hello, my name is Julian, pleasure to meet you." The young looking man said as soon as he was standing right in front of him. As soon as Aria saw the man she went over to him hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Julian, I did not know you would be here, I thought you were staying in Acinorev." She said.

Harry just looked at their interaction in confusion.

"I was not planning to, but then your dear father requested my presence in this absolutely lovely forest in order to teach a certain young man Occlumency." Julian replied with a grin.

"Really?" Aria asked with a big smile on her face. "Are you staying for a while?"

"Yes, now I think we are being rude to my young pupil, don't you think so?" Julian responded pointing at the very confused Harry, while he had been in Acinorev he had not met the man, and as far as he was concerned he had met everyone.

"Yeah, sorry Harry." She said blushing and turning around to address the confused teenager. "This is Julian, one of my best friends; he is one of the younger Vampires in the clan."

"Pleasure to meet you." Harry said shaking the Vampire's hand. "I'm Harry."

"Oh, I know, I wasn't in the forest when you came to visit, but I have heard a lot about you since then." Julian said.

"Yeah, now I'm leaving you two to work while I go hunting, bye." Aria said before leaving them, Antonio and Elsmere had already left.

"Well Mr. Potter, I have been told that you have had a really, really bad experience with the art of Occlumency, is this correct?" Julian asked

"Well, it depends, can you call someone screaming at you 'close your mind Potter' and 'you are as worthless as your father, Potter' and 'you are not trying Potter', a good experience, the I guess my experience was a walk in the park." Harry responded with sarcasm rolling out of him but a smile on his face to show that he was not really mad.

"Oh, I would say that was the best of experiences." Julian responded. "Now, as apparently you did not learn anything last time, I will show you a method Vampires use but not many humans know. It will make it easier in the long run, I assure you."

"Okay." Harry agreed. He would really try this time. He would learn how to shield his mind against the crazy snake faced bastard that fed him visions and caused him so much pain if it was the last thing he did. He would not be fooled again; he would not let that monster kill another of his loved ones.

"Very well, take a seat." Julian said motioning to the ground right beside himself. After Harry had taken the offered place Julian also seated himself in the ground directly in front of the teenager. "I want you to close your eyes and meditate. Think about nothing, feel nothing."

Harry did as he was told, he closed his eyes and soon his breathing was calm.

'_How does he expect me to stop thinking? I can't just decide to not think. This is a waste of time. I'll never be able to master this. Ok, enough drama, concentrate Harry, try not to think. Do not think. Do not think. Do not think. This is not working. Do not think.'_ Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Julian's voice.

"Harry, you are trying to hard. Let's try something else, instead of you trying not to think, focus all your thoughts to something specific, it could be a color, or a person, or simply a thing, but think of only that thing while your eyes are closed."

Harry thought for a second before closing his eyes once again and starting to relax. He started thinking about water and only water. He thought about how the rain felt when it touched his skin, about the steady flow of a stream about the smooth surface of the lake. He was only thinking of water. He did not know who he was any more or where he was, he did not know how old he was or why he was thinking about water but he was, he has lost himself in the water surrounding him. Instead of drowning he watched peacefully as the water surrounded him, it caressed his face and enveloped him just like a blanket does.

Suddenly Harry was brought back to the land of the living by the voice of Julian.

"Very well done Harry." He said, Harry had to blink a couple of times in order to remember where he was and what was he doing. When Harry noticed that he had done the exercise correctly he beamed.

"Thank you" Harry responded smiling.

Julian was also smiling. "Now Harry, I will try and break into your mind and you will try to block me by thinking about one thing one."

"Okay." Harry said. He concentrated for a second before excluding every thought except those of water from his mind.

"Legilimens!" Julian said. When he entered Harry's mind the only thing he saw was water, but going a little farther ahead he could see the outlines of a memory. Julian made his way toward the memory and grabbed it, at once the memory came to the front of Harry's mind with thousands of others following it.

Harry thought he was doing well until suddenly he was assaulted with a thousand memories almost at the same time. One of the memories that got his attention was the one of when his godfather died. He saw once again as Sirius fell through the Veil. How Remus grabbed him and prevented him from going after his godfather.

When the rush of memories stopped Harry lay on the floor panting with tears falling freely down his face.

"I'm sorry Harry; I did not know that I would trigger painful memories. Please forgive me." Julian said kneeling down next to the distressed teenager and handing him a handkerchief.

"It is okay Julian." Harry said composing himself. "Let's try again."

They continued with the exercises until Aria and Elsmere came back from hunting well into the night.

"Take care, I will see you after the holidays." Julian said shacking Harry's hands.

"You too, thank you for the lesson; I will practice during the break." Harry responded.

"Make sure you do, I will know if you practice when we come back." Julian said with a smile. He kissed both Aria and Elsmere on the cheek before giving them each a hug.

The three teenagers made their way together back to the castle. It was about midnight and they were very grateful that tomorrow was a Saturday so they wouldn't have to get up early.

"See you tomorrow." Harry said once they were in the common room, the room was empty and Harry was tired so he was going to sleep.

"Good night Harry." Elsmere said giving Harry a hug.

"Night" Aria said also giving him a hug.

HPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHPPHPHPHPHPP

"I'm going to miss Hogwarts… a lot." Harry said the day before the train would take the kids home for their Christmas Holidays.

"Me too, I'm going to spend my whole vacation trapped in the gloomiest house you could imagine." Ron complained.

"Yeah, you have it bad." Harry said. He had inherited Grimmuland Place along with the rest of Sirius' belongings, but he had given it to Dumbledore so that he could keep using it as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.

"I'm sure our Holidays won't be so bad, we will each be spending it with our family, and family is very important in these dark times." Hermione said trying to think on the positive side.

"Yeah, you're right 'Mione, but I'll still miss you." Ron said. Hermione smiled and blushed.

"Oh please, if you are getting mushy please go elsewhere." Harry murmured but with a grin on his face.

"You know Harry; I think your bad mood lately is because you really need a girl." Ron said looking at his best friend as if he was a complicated puzzle.

"You know Ron, I agree with you. Harry you should really think of getting yourself a girlfriend." Hermione agreed with a grin.

By now Harry was beet red. "I am not moody and if I was it certainly is not because I need a girlfriend. Plus I don't even like anyone right now."

"Um, let's 'Mione, I think he would be great with Cho." Ron said.

"No way, I got over Cho a long time ago. Come on guys I do not need a girlfriend. So, who wants to do down to the kitchens?" Harry said desperately trying to change the subject.

Ron just ignored him. "You are right, Cho is so lat year. How about Parvati?"

"No, she is not Harry's type." Hermione responded at once.

"Lavender?"

"No, she is with Dean."

"Right, Luna?"

"Too loony."

"Guy's I really don't-" Harry tried once again.

"Don't be silly Harry, let us think." Hermione said laughing at her friend's face.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" Elsmere said when she reached them. They were all sitting near the shore of the Great Lake.

"Looking for a girl for Harry." Ron responded. "How about Katie?"

"No, she's dating Oliver." Elsmere said.

"Really?" Hermione asked

"Yes." Elsmere replied with certainty.

"I do not need a-" Harry tried once again.

"Shut up Harry." Elsmere said. "How about Parvati?"

"No, we already crossed her out, where's Aria?" Ron said.

"With Julian, how about Hannah Abbott?"

"No, she's dating Terry." Hermione said.

"How do you know so much about the dating couples?" Ron asked his girlfriend.

"Parvati and Lavender of course." Hermione replied.

"Of course." Elsmere said as if this was obvious.

"I do not want a-" Harry tried for what he thought was the millionth time to interrupt but Ron cut him off.

"I now Ginny!" Ron exclaimed triumphantly.

"NO WAY RON!!" Harry screamed. "She's dating Blaze and what's more, she's like a little sister, please. And I already told you I-"

"You're right I'm sorry." Ron said.

"I know, Aria."

"What no!" Harry said taken by surprise by Elsmere's suggestion.

"Yes! You keep looking at her and she keeps looking at you." Elsmere explained as through Harry was stupid or something.

"No, I do not." Harry said. He was tomato red by now.

"Yes you do." Elsmere argued.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't!"

"Harry mate, you do." Ron said.

"No I don't" Harry denied.

"Okay Harry sorry, you don't like Aria. Well then what about-" Elsmere didn't finish her sentence because Harry just stood up and left his laughing friends.

He headed toward Hagrid's Cabin only to find that the half-giant was not in his home. Instead he went to the edge of the forest where he sat against a tree and started to think about the next two weeks. They were definitely going to be hard for him.

**Author's Note- I have some bad news, my updates are going to be slower for a time, probably, instead of updating weekly like I was I will probably update every two weeks or so, I'm sorry but school work had gotten harder seeing as it is my last semester. **

**We have Harry finally learning Occlumency. I was going to put Snape teaching him, but I forgot and as that was supposed to have happened a couple of chapter ago, I had to improvise, so I'm sorry if not may of you like this chapter. **

**The next chapter will probably be the vacation with the Dursleys' what a joy!!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! You are the best!! Please tell me what you think!!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note- At the bottom I just want to say that I am super sorry for the late update **

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter nor am I making any money out of it. **

**This chapter contains mention od child abuse and child neglect. **

"Take care Harry, write." Elsmere said hugging him.

"Yeah Harry, have a good Holiday and don't let them get you down." Aria said also hugging him goodbye.

"Bye guys. Have fun." Harry said before regretfully following Ron and Hermione into the train. His two best friends were already sitting down in an empty compartment. Ron was going home to spend Christmas with his family at Grimmuland Place and Hermione was going with her parents in a trip to the Mediterranean.

"Lighten up Harry, it's only two weeks." Hermione said trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Harry didn't respond. He knew he was acting like a spoiled kid but if he wanted to waste his time scowling, then he would do so! He was most definitely not looking forward to the two weeks ahead of him.

"Harry please, enough pouting." Hermione said. "Let's play Exploding Snap, come on."

Harry gave up and started playing with his friends. Later the compartment door opened and in walked Ginny with Blaise right behind him.

"Hey Ginny, hey Blaise, what up?" Ron asked as soon as they had taken a seat.

"Nothing much, just looking for something to help speed the ride up." Blaise replied taking the seat right in front of Harry. His face at once turned into one of understanding.

"Not wanting to go home either?" he said.

"How you'd know?" Harry asked surprised for a second.

"I don't want to go home either, and your face betrayed you." He said with a grin.

"Oh… yeah, whatever. Ginny, what's with your life?" Harry said desperately trying to change the subject.

Everyone in the compartment detected the change of subject but they went with it anyway.

"Nothing really, under a lot of work because of the O.W.Ls." Ginny replied taking a seat and leaning against Blaise.

"Poor Gin." Ron said in a fake sympathetic voice.

"Oh honestly Ron, O.W.Ls are one of the most important wizarding examinations in existence. They open our rode for the future." Hermione said in a passionate voice. Harry and Ron looked at each other and grinned. "Ginny, have you started studying?"

"Not yet." Ginny replied. And with that she and Hermione started a discussing the exams. Harry, Ron and Blaise looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Did anyone find out who threw the spell during the Quidditch game?" Ron asked.

"No, the last I heard nobody saw anybody casting a spell." Blaise replied.

"What about Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Apparently he was at a detention or something at the time." Blaise explained.

"Are you sure you should be going home Blaise, I am sure your parents won't be too happy to see you." Harry commented, he knew that Blaise's parents wanted him to join Voldemort and that they would not be too happy with his choice for a side in the war.

"Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape and I worked that out. I have been learning Occlumency for the past couple of months and I am going to be a spy for the light side." Blaise said.

"No, Blaise don't do this. You'll just be putting yourself into even greater danger." Harry said at once.

"Harry, this is my contribution to the war. I could save people's lives doing this. Everybody is in danger at the moment." Blaise responded at once.

"What about Ginny? Does Ginny know?" Harry asked now raising his voice.

"Yes she does, and she agrees with me." Blaise responded calmly.

"I still don't like it." Harry said.

"You don't have to, I am still doing it." Blaise said.

"What are you going to tell your parents when they ask what you are doing hanging out with us?" Harry asked.

"I'm telling them that I am earning your trust and once you trust me enough bring you to Voldemort, the typical story." Blaise replied.

"And what will happen when he starts noticing that I spend a lot of time with you but you still haven't kidnapped me?" Harry asked the Slytherin.

"We'll work on that when the time comes." Blaise replied. Harry thought that he looked way to calm.

"I do not like this." Harry murmured.

"I'm still doing it." Blaise said, "Want to play Exploding Snap?"

"Sure." Ron responded he had stayed silent through the whole argument between Harry and Blaise.

The rest of the train ride passed with the kids playing card games.

"Bye Harry, take care. If anything happens please write." Hermione said while giving him a parting hug.

"Alright 'Mione, have fun with your parents." Harry said returning the hug.

"Bye mate, if you need anything tell us." Ron said giving Harry a 'manly' hug.

"Bye Ron, bye Ginny, bye Blaise." Harry said before reluctantly making his way toward his waiting relatives.

"Finally boy." Was the only thing his uncle said before leafing the way toward the car with Petunia and Dudley right behind him. Harry glanced back one more time and saw the Weasleys talking with Hermione's parents.

The drive back to Number Four was spent in complete silence. Nobody said a word, and Harry was perfectly happy with this. After fifteen minutes of driving in silence they reached the house.

As soon as Harry had unlocked his trunk Uncle Vernon took it and locked it in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry was happy that he had remembered to keep his wand hidden in his pant's pocket.

"Boy go to your room, don't make a sound and you better not even think about getting out of the room if you want to spend a quiet Christmas." Uncle Vernon said.

"Yes Uncle." Harry said before making his way into his room. Harry sighed when he sat down on his lumpy mattress. Yes, definitely fun Holidays.

A week had already passed in the same manner. Harry had been looked up in his room only allowed to leave once again to go to the bathroom and fed once a day through the cat flap that Uncle Vernon had installed the summer after second year. Tomorrow was Christmas day and Harry was spending Christmas Eve looked up in his room thinking about the great time he could be having right about now in Hogwarts with Aria, Elsmere and the rest of the Vampires, hell he would even settle for going to Grimmuland Place with the Weasleys.

Finally tired of getting depressed Harry drifted off to sleep. Unluckily for him, his sleep was not a peaceful one. Harry once again paid a visit to Voldemort's mind. This time it was Death Eater's meeting and Voldemort was doing his favorite hobby, torturing his minions. Of course being subjected to so many Cruciatus would have anybody screaming bloody murder, so obviously Harry screamed.

When Harry woke from his dream the first thing that he realized was that he was shaking uncontrollably. The next thing he noticed was the stinging in his left cheek. The third thing he noticed was the huge body of his uncle looking over him. _'Shit'_ Harry thought. He knew he was in for it now.

"FREAK!" his uncle bellowed. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE SUCH NOISE AT THIS UNGODLY HOUR?" With that his uncle slapped him once again.

"I…I…I'm sorry Uncle Vernon." Harry managed to say. His voice was hoarse from all his screaming and his body trembling.

"You ungrateful freak! Petunia and I, we give you a roof and food and this is how you repay us? By waking us in the middle of the night? You'll be sorry all right." His uncle bellowed.

Harry flinched at his uncle's raised voice. He knew he had screwed up big time now.

"I am warning you for the lat time. Don't make a single noise." His uncle hissed before slapping Harry once again and leaving the room. Harry sighed a sigh if relief. He knew his uncle could do worst so he was just grateful that nothing else happened.

When Harry woke up Christmas morning his cheek was stinging and when he touched the spot he winced. There was definitely a bruise forming. Still Harry had to smile when he saw the three owls on his window waiting for him to open it. He did an the three owls entered, on was Hedwig, his snowy white owl, the other was Pig, Ron's miniature owl and the other on was a school owl.

He took the packages from the three owls. At once the school owl left but Pig stayed circling along the round in his exited way. Hedwig nipped his ear affectionately before going to her water bowl and going to sleep.

The first package was from Hermione, not surprising it was a book. **'10000 curses taught to Aurors'**. Harry loved it, he wasn't sure if he still wanted to be an Auror once he leaved Hogwarts, but it never hurt to learn defensive spells. Along with the gift there was a card wishing him a Merry Christmas and telling him to write.

Ron got him one of the Holiday packaged from Honeydukes which included everything from Chocolate Frogs to Chocolate Cockroaches. There was also a letter telling him to write and whishing him a Merry Christmas. Along with Ron's gift there was the annual hand sewn sweeter made by Mrs. Weasley, and a bunch of joke shop products from Fred and George. Ginny had also gotten him something, a beautiful ring with a lion in Gryffindor colors.

The last package was from Aria and Elsmere. Elsmere got him a new broom polishing kit, seeing as his was almost empty. Aria got him a sword belt. It was charmed so nobody would see it or feel it, in case he bumped into anybody, that way Harry could always be armed.

Harry loved all his gifts; he hoped that his friends liked the ones he had gotten for them. It had been hard but Harry had finally found gifts for everyone. He had given Ron new keepers gloves and Quidditch shoes. He had gotten Hermione a necklace with an owl on it, Ginny a new book bag which he had seen her eyeing on a Hogsmeade weekend. Fred and George had been harder but he had finally settled for a list of pranks done by the Marauders, it wasn't the original of course but Harry had copied it. For Elsmere and Aria he had gotten them each a necklace. Elsmere's had a necklace with a unicorn pendant and Aria had a necklace with a phoenix on it.

The rest of the day passed with Harry alone in the room, he received a piece of bread and cheese for dinner. When he was allowed to go out of his room for his daily bathroom break he got a peak at Dudley playing with his new computer.

That night passed without any dreams from Voldemort, something for which Harry was most gracious about. Another week passed with absolutely no change in Harry's living routine.

Finally it was the day before Harry had to go back to Hogwarts, the night after New Year's. Harry was laying on his bed wishing that the minutes would pass. It was already pass midnight but still Harry could not go to sleep. Suddenly his scar burst into pain. It was almost as bad as the pain he felt when Voldemort was next to him. In a moment of complete confusion Harry looked around trying to see if he saw Voldemort or any of his Death Eaters near his house, he did not se anyone. The pain was so intense that Harry could not stop himself, he screamed. His vision became blurry until his sight when completely black.

_Vision:_

"_What news do you have for me Bellatrix?" Voldemort hissed at his most trusted follower._

"_My Lord, the plan is set in motion. It is only a small amount of time until we can capture the boy. Our spy is ready for when you say so, My Lord." Bellatrix answered still kneeling on the floor in front of her Lord. _

"_Rise Bellatrix." Bellatrix did as Voldemort commanded and got up from the floor with her head held high and an expression of pure admiration on her face when she looked at Voldemort. "You have served me well Bellatrix, for that I thank you." Voldemort said while placing a hand tenderly on Bellatrix's cheek. _

"_Thank you My Lord." Bellatrix said leaning into the snake-faced Dark Lord's touch. _

"_You may go Bellatrix." Voldemort said. Bellatrix said as she was told at once. Once Bellatrix left Voldemort smiled, not a nice sort of smile, but a feral and evil one. _

_End Vision_

Harry woke up from his vision still feeling Voldemort's happiness at the news Bellatrix had given him. He reached with his hand to touch his scar and when he drew his hand away he noticed that it was covered in blood. '_Perfect_' Harry thought.

Just then the door to his room opened up and his purple faced Uncle entered. He had his hand raised and at once slapped Harry.

"You little _freak_, how dare you make such a ruckus in this house again?" his uncle yelled while he grabbed Harry by the arms and shook him. With the grip his uncle had on his arm Harry just knew that he would have bruises.

"I'm sorry Uncle Vernon." Harry said reciting the line that had been taught since he was able to talk.

"Yes, well you will be sorry. This is the second time you wake me up in the middle of the night with your screaming. I've had enough of it. I really don't care what those other _freaks_ say, I'll make you sorry." Vernon said punching Harry hard on the ribs.

Harry gasped when his uncle's fists connected with his ribs. For a second it was hard to breathe. Before Harry could react Vernon punched him again. That was when Harry's magic kicked in. A blue light momentarily surrounded Harry and when his uncle tried to hit him again he fell unconscious to the floor.

Finally free to take in what had just happened Harry looked at his sides in horror. There were two clear bruises already formed. His arms had two hand shape bruises each and he had no doubt that his face as also bruised. Without thinking about it twice Harry passed his hand through his bruises casting a wandless charm to hide the Bruises.

He stayed in his room the rest of the night until it was 5:50 am, ten minutes before his portkey was set to initiate. His uncle was still unconscious but honestly Harry did not care.

Harry carefully made hi way downstairs, opened the cupboard under the stair, retrieved his school trunk and walked back upstairs to his room. Here he grabbed Hedwig's cage with the owl inside it and prepared himself to go back home.

Ten minutes later the portkey activated and he arrived in the Gryffindor Common Room, nobody was there. Harry made his way to his deserted Dormitory and left his trunk. He came back to the Common Room.

When he reached the Common Room Aria and Elsmere were there, seated in front of the fire talking to each other.

"Harry!" Elsmere said as soon as she saw Harry. She at once rushed over to him and hugged him.

"We thought that you were to arrive later." Aria said also hugging him.

"Hey guys, I've missed you. How were your Holidays?" Harry asked once he had sat down in one of the armchairs.

"Oh, it was good. We spend our time in the Forest; we arrived just now because we knew you would be coming today." Elsmere said.

"Thanks." Harry said feeling happy that his friends had come to keep him company.

"So, Harry, how was your Holiday?" Elsmere asked looking at him critically.

"Boring, I really did not do anything."

"Sure?" aria asked suspiciously.

"Yes, why?" Harry asked suddenly nervous. His glamour was still I place, right?

"Because you look skinnier." Aria stated.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just wasn't really hungry." Harry lied.

"Sure." Elsmere said sarcastically. It was obvious that she did not believe him.

"Really. So, did you like my gifts?" Harry asked trying to change the subject. It was an obvious attempt but the girls went with it.

"I loved it was beautiful." Aria said at once.

"I'm glad you liked it." Harry said happy that things were back to normal, at least for now.

**Author's Note- OMG! I am so, so, so sorry for the late update. My teachers don't believe us when we tell them that we have lives outside of our classroom books. I know that is not an excuse but I am so sorry, I hope you forgive me. **

**I want to thank all my readers, even the ones who don't review. I love you all!! Thanks especially to those of you who spend a couple of seconds, maybe even a minute in leaving me a review; it makes me feel all nice inside. LOL. **

**Really, I am very, very sorry for the so late update. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note- At the bottom. **

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter nor am I making any money out of it. **

The next morning Harry woke up to an empty Dormitory. Harry had to smile; he was finally away from the Dursleys… at least for the next six months. Getting up Harry walked over to the bathroom and looked himself in the mirror. Harry had had another growth spur and was now a towering six feet tall. If he said so himself he was a nice looking guy. His hair was a little longer than at the end of the summer, but his green streaks now looked even better, and his eyes sparked a brilliant green.

Harry sighed before taking off the glamour he had. At once his tan skin became white and he suddenly looked way too thin. Looking at his face Harry at once saw the two clearly visible bruises on his cheeks. Taking a better look at himself he noticed that he had two more bruises on his arms. Turning around from the mirror Harry got into the shower.

When Harry came out of the bathroom, with his glamour back in place, he got dressed and walked down to the Common Room. He was not surprised to see Aria and Elsmere already there.

"Hey, are they any more Gryffindors in the castle?" Harry asked the two teenage Vampires.

"Hey, no, sorry you're stuck with only us for company." Elsmere said in a fake distraught tone of voice.

"Oh, no poor, poor me." Harry said sitting down on an armchair.

"Poor Potter." Aria said also sitting down.

"Hey!" Harry complained.

"You started it, Potter." Aria responded with a smirk.

"Ok, ok you win. I'm sorry; you are fun to be with."

"That's what I thought." Aria said with a grin. Just then Harry's stomach gave a loud growl.

"Apparently I'm hungry. Want to come with me to breakfast?" Harry asked getting up from his chair.

"I'll go, I have nothing else to do." Aria said.

"You go ahead, I'm going to sleep a couple more hours." Elsmere said.

"Is that all you are going to eat?" Aria asked when she was that Harry pushed away his almost full plate.

"Yes, I'm full." Harry said going into defensive mode. He knew that his appetite was always smaller when he came back from the Dursleys.

"I think you should eat more Harry, you are awfully skinny." Aria commented.

"Aria, I'm full. Really. Now, what do you want to do?" Harry asked getting up from the

table.

"Do you have any homework to do?" Aria asked.

"Yes, but I don't want to do school work." Harry responded.

"Ok, but just because it's Christmas. Want to go to Hogsmeade?" Aria asked.

"Sure, let's go ask Elsmere if she wants to come with us." Harry responded already making his way to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Elsmere, do you want to go to Hogsmeade with us?" Harry asked the brown haired Vampire.

"No thanks, I have a lot of homework that I have to finish before classes start." Elsmere responded.

"Whatever, you're going to miss it." Aria said, and with that Harry and Aria got under Harry's invisibility cloak and left the Common Room.

Once the two black haired teenagers entered the passage behind the hunched witch they took off the invisibility cloak.

"You do realize we'll be in so much trouble if anybody saw us?" Aria asked.

"Yes, are you having second thoughts? I want to remind you Ms. Aria that you were the one who suggested the trip in the first place." Harry responded.

"I am not having second thoughts Mr. Potter. I was just stating a fact." Aria complained. "How much longer until we reach the village?"

"We are almost there. You sure are impatient, you know that don't you?" Harry said grinning at Aria's antics. It wasn't everyday that Aria acted this carefree and he was sure to enjoy it while the carefree attitude lasted.

"Yes, I know." Aria responded with a smirk.

"Your weird." Harry said.

"So are you." Aria countered.

"Touché." Harry said. "We are here, where do you want to go to first?"

"Let's go to Honeydukes first please." Aria asked.

"Sure thing, with one condition." Harry said already walking toward the candy shop. The village was almost deserted.

"What?"

"My treat." Harry simply said.

"No. I have money." Aria argued.

"I don't care, either I pay or we go back to Hogwarts."

"No."

"Yes."

"You can't make me do anything." Aria said. They were arguing in the middle of the street.

"Yes I can, I can just take my invisibility cloak and go back to the school and let you get in trouble." Harry said with a no-nonsense voice.

"You wouldn't." Aria said looking at Harry square in the eyes.

"Yes I would." Harry said with a completely unemotional voice.

"Ok, you win. But only this time." Aria finally gave in.

"Ok." Harry said before smiling and once again making his way toward the candy shop. Aria smiled and walked with him.

Half an hour later the two teenagers left the shop with their sweet-tooth satisfied and a box of sugar quills for Elsmere. Together they made their way to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer and a light snack.

"I'll get the butterbeers, you find a seat." Harry told Aria before making his way to the counter to pay for the counter. After he had already paid for the beers he made his way over to were Aria had taken a seat.

"Thanks." Aria said taking the butterbeer that Harry was offering her.

"You're welcome." Harry said taking a seat next to her.

"Harry, may I ask you something?" Aria asked after a couple of minutes of drinking in silence.

"Sure." Harry said albeit a bit nervously.

"Harry how was your holiday?"

"It was fine. A little boring but okay." Harry answered.

"Are you sure?" Aria asked. You could hear the concern quite clearly in her voice.

"Yes, Aria, why do you ask?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"You look thinner, as through you hadn't eaten almost anything during the whole break." Aria responded looking Harry directly in the eyes.

Harry was now slightly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken.

"Yes, well my cousin is in a diet and Aunt Petunia wants us all to follow it." Harry said avoiding Aria's eyes.

"Oh, okay." It was obvious she did not believe him but she dropped the subject. "If I were you I will be on the lookout. Hermione and Ron both wrote to us and they seem determined to get you a girl before the school year is up." Now Aria had a teasing grin on her face.

Harry groaned. "Just perfect."

"I am going to enjoy this." Aria murmured.

"I'm sure you will." Harry said already dreading the next couple of weeks with his two best friends trying to find him the perfect girl. The rest of the visit passed making small talk and catching up with each other. Together they made their way back to the school just in time for dinner.

"Did you two have fun?" Elsmere asked as soon as she had spotted the two approaching Gryffindors.

"Yes, we had a great time. We even brought you some sweets." Harry said tossing the bag of Honeydukes products they had gotten for Elsmere.

"Thanks guys, these are my favorite." Elsmere exclaimed already taking out a sugar quill.

"I know." Harry said with a smug smile.

"Show off." Aria murmured making her way toward the Great Hall.

"You love me." Harry replied still with that smug smile.

"Of course I do." Aria responded sarcastically.

"You don't?" Harry said with the most convincing puppy eyes he could master.

"Ah, what the hell, of course I do you silly wizard." Aria replied giving in to Harry's antics.

"I knew it all along. You Vampires can't resist a good looking wizard." By now they were already seated in the Gryffindor house table and their plates were full with food.

"Thank Merlin there are no good looking wizards around." Elsmere said.

"How can you say that? I can name at least one good looking wizard in this hall." Aria said.

Harry looked around the hall trying to find the good looking wizard. In the Hufflepuff table there were only three girls and five boys and they all looked to be first and second years. The Ravenclaw table had ten students but you could not exactly see them from their table. And the Slytherin table only had Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson and their cronies. Sitting on the staff table were Professor McGonagall, Sprout, Tonks, Dumbledore and Snape.

"I really don't see no good looking wizard nearby." Harry said looking once more at his Vampire friends.

Both of them rolled their eyes at the same time.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Oh Harry, you really are stupid." Elsmere said.

"Why?"

"Who was the one who said he was good looking?" aria asked.

"Me? Oh you meant me! I was joking when I said I was good looking." Harry said.

"Oh, Harry you are an idiot." Elsmere said with a laugh.

"Are you done already?" Aria asked out of nowhere.

"Yes, why?" Harry responded, he had already eaten and was pushing his plate away.

"Nothing Harry." Arias sighed, during the day she had figured that it was no good to try and get Harry to do anything he did not want to do, and that included eating.

"Harry, are you up for some training?" Aria asked once they left the Great Hall.

"Sure, where?" Harry asked.

"Room of Requirement." Aria answered already leading the way toward the seventh floor.

"Guys, you go ahead, I am going to the forest." Elsmere said looking apologetic at Harry and Aria.

"Ok" Aria answered without looking back at her cousin. Harry looked confused but still followed Aria to the Room of Requirement. The room was big with mirrors instead of walls. The floor was covered in a rug that felt as through you were walking on pillows. There was a small couch on the far side where someone could seat a safe distance away and watch. On the center of the room there was a wide circle.

Harry had to smile at the familiar sight. Throughout the whole year every time the Vampires and he had come to train the room took the exact same shape. Without a word to Aria Harry took his sword, which he always carried with him, and took a fighting stance. Aria grinned but did not take a fighting stance.

"Harry, you have already mastered sword fighting, I think it's time we move on with different things." Aria said.

"What exactly are you talking about?" Harry asked starting to put his sword away.

"No, don't put your sword away; we are going to practice fighting with both sword and wand."

"What?" Harry asked incredulously. He had no idea that could be possible.

"You are ambidextrous, right? Aria asked him, ignoring his question and confused face.

"Yes, why?" Harry asked.

"Simple enough, you'll hold your wand with your left hand and your sword with your right. It's fairly simple." Aria said taking out her sword and wand.

"Sure." Harry said also taking out his wand. Antonio had been giving him a few lesson on wand work and he was way better at dueling now.

"One… two… three. Stupefy." Aria said firing of the spell and approaching Harry at the same time with her sword in attack position. Harry did not have much time so he did as any sane person would do in his situation. He ducked. He narrowly avoided the curse but next thing he knew Aria had her sword in his neck.

"Wow, that was easier thank I thought." Aria commented as she straightened up.

Harry just glared at her. He got up from the floor and got into position once more. This time he started the count. "One… two… three. Expelliarmus." At the same time he lunged toward Aria. Aria easily sidestepped the curse and blocked Harry's sword attack. At the same time that she was attacking Harry she cast a stinging hex his way, which Harry just barely avoided. Harry responded by sending a 'petrificus totalus' her way. Aria quickly murmured 'protego'.

They continued fighting like that for about fifteen minutes when Aria could finally unarm Harry from both his sword and wand.

"That was better than the first time." Aria commented.

"Thanks." Harry said rubbing his forearm. Aria had accidentally hit him on his bruise during the fight.

"Are you okay Harry?" Aria asked when she noticed Harry rubbing his arms as through he were in pain.

"Yeah, it's just a little sore." Harry mumbled not looking at her.

"Are you sure? We could go to Madam Pomfrey." Aria said worried. '

"No, that's okay." Harry replied picking his sword up once more. "One more round?"

"Are you sure?" Aria asked.

"Yes. I'm okay, really." Harry said preparing himself for the fight.

Aria had a look of disapproval on her face but she also picked up her sword and prepared for the fight. The fight lasted about forty minutes this time and by the end Harry was completely exhausted. He had been hit with a stinging hex and a cutting curse. Aria was unharmed and did not look even remotely tire. '_Stupid Vampire endurance'_ Harry thought as he saw Aria sit down comfortably on the couch.

Harry went over to sit next to Aria. Harry noticed that Aria had stopped breathing. He knew that Vampires did not need to breath, but he also knew that Aria liked to anyway so he was curious as to why Aria suddenly stopped breathing.

"Aria, are you okay?" Harry asked concerned for his friend.

"Yes Harry, but would you mind fixing the cut on your shoulder?" Aria asked still not breathing.

Harry looked at his shoulder, it was bleeding. At once he understood why Aria had stopped breathing. Even though she only drank animal blood, the smell of blood was tempting to her.

"Sorry" Harry said at once getting up from the couch and starting to get away from Aria. He could not fix his shoulder now because to do that he would have to remove his glamour. The glamour Harry was using did not interact good with some kinds of spells, and I so happened that healing spells were some of those.

"That's okay, just fix it, or do you need me to help?" Aria said looking at him.

"No, that's okay. I'm just going to go back to the Common Room and fix it." Harry said making his way toward the door.

"Aren't you going to stay and drink a couple of butterbeers?" Aria asked. It had become kind of a routine to stay after there practice sessions and have a couple of butterbeers before going back to the Common Room.

"Uh…" Harry had no idea what to say.

"Come on, stay. Just fix your shoulder first." Aria asked.

Harry really did not have an excuse to leave without sounding rude. He sighed and gave in. He was nervous and his hands were shaking.

"Aria… I… I think I've better go to the infirmary." Harry said, hoping that Aria would let him leave.

"Don't be silly Harry. If you can't fix it yourself I'll be glad to help." Aria said now slowly approaching Harry. Harry saw no way out of this. Aria approached him, took out her wand and murmured the healing charm.

**A/N- Okay, before you all kill me. Um, well I'm sorry. I had finals and three research projects and my birthday was yesterday. I'm really sorry. Next chapter will be up by the weekend, I promise!! Sorry, sorry, sorry. **

**Well thanks everyone who reviewed! Please REVIEW, AND I'M REALLY, REALLY SORRY.**

**I was doing this really random survey to people, and I thought I should ask it here. **

**Would you prefer a single rose or a dozen roses? **

**Thanks, bye see ya.**


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note- At the bottom

**Author's Note- At the bottom. **

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter nor am I making any money out of it. **

"_Don't be silly Harry. If you can't fix it yourself I'll be glad to help." Aria said now slowly approaching Harry. Harry saw no way out of this. Aria approached him, took out her wand and murmured the healing charm. _

Harry's shoulder instantly healed. Harry's glamour instantly disappeared also. At once his tan body became deathly pale and unhealthily skinny. You could now see the two hand shaped purple bruises in his cheek, he had not had the opportunity to go to the infirmary and steal some bruise salve.

As soon as Harry's glamour fell Aria gasped. Harry was frozen in place by both anxiety and fear for Aria's reaction to seeing him like this. Both teenagers stayed in place for about two seconds before Aria rushed forward and hugged Harry forcefully.

Harry winced when Aria touched his arms. At once Aria let go of him. She was glaring as she took off Harry's shirt. If Harry thought she had been angry when she released him, he was wrong. The way she looked right now was truly frightening.

Once Harry's shirt was completely removed and Aria could see just how skinny he was and the two bruises on his arm, Aria let a small growl escape from her mouth.

"Aria?" Harry asked afraid that she was mad at him.

When Harry saw the look of fear on Harry's eyes, she relaxed a little but she still looked terrifying.

"Oh, Harry." Aria said in a sad voice, suddenly her voice turned cold. "I'm going to kill them."

"Um, Aria. You might want to calm down." Harry said.

"Calm down. Calm down, Harry? Are you crazy? Look what they did to you." Aria was screaming now. Aria extended her hand and softly touched Harry's cheek with the tip of her fingers. Harry did not wince this time because Aria was being extremely gentle.

Aria cupped Harry's cheek and murmured a few words that Harry did not understand. Harry felt a tickling sensation on his cheek before Aria released him. When Aria released him she had a single tear running down her cheeks.

"Aria please don't cry." Harry murmured. He hated to see girls cry it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Harry, why? Why didn't you tell anyone about the way they treated you?" Aria asked, now cupping his other cheek. Harry felt the same tickling sensation once more before Aria released him and grabbed his arms. He did not have to look to know what Aria was doing. She was healing his bruises.

Harry looked down at his feet but did not answer. Aria let Harry have his minute of silence while she finished healing his bruises. Once she was done she gently guided Harry to the couch and sat him down. Harry would still not look at her.

"Harry?" Aria said. She wanted and explication and she wanted one now. Her patience was about to end. "Harry Jams Potter, you better answer me, unless of course you would

prefer if I asked Ron or Hermione about your home life tomorrow?"

At that Harry looked up. He glared at Aria; he could not believe that she would sink as low as to go ask Ron and Hermione.

"What?" he asked, he was not going to say anything.

"Harry, why didn't you tell us?" Aria repeated looking directly into Harry's eyes.

Harry could not divert his eyes from Aria's piercing stare.

"It's just a couple of bruises, nothing to worry about." Harry said desperately trying to find a way out of this situation.

"Harry, it is something to worry about. Look at yourself, you can see every rib in your body, you are a sickly pale color and you had bruises. That Harry is called abuse." Aria said while gently cupping his cheek with her hand.

Harry hated the word 'abuse'; it made him feel so weak and vulnerable. Harry knew deep down that what Aria was telling him was true, that he was abused, but he did not want to acknowledge it.

"It really is not that bad." Harry said.

By now Aria was fuming because of Harry's way of thinking. " Harry, it may not be life threatening, but it is still abuse. This is against the law, this is against human moral, this is not right and you should really tell someone."

"No Aria, I do not have to tell anyone. It is my life and so it is my choice to make if I want to tell anyone what happens in my 'home'." Harry said trying to make Aria understand.

"Harry I understand that, what I want you to understand is that I care about you, and Ron, and Hermione and Elsmere and many other people care a great deal about you. I'm sure none of them want to see you get hurt or get starved. Look at yourself you look as through you have not eaten in all the time you were staying with your 'relatives'. Tell me Harry, how much did they feed you?"

"They fed me enough to keep me alive, that's all that matters." Harry said going into the defensive.

Aria gave a low growl; she was getting frustrated with Harry being his usual stubborn self. "Harry James Potter how would you feel if I told you I was being hit at home? Would you tell me it was nothing if it were only a few bruises? Tell me Harry, would you say I was okay if you could see every rib on my body. Tell me?!"

"Of course not!" Harry said at once.

"Then please explain to me how you expect me to believe that what they did to you is okay?" Aria said still looking directly into Harry's eyes. Harry had tried to break free from the piercing stare a couple of times but Aria had taken his chin in a gentle yet firm grip.

Once again Harry tried to break free from Aria's hold and this time he succeeded.

"It's different." Harry said getting up from the couch and starting to walk toward the door. Before he could even take three steps Aria was in front of him. She took his hands and once again guided him toward the couch. Harry sighed, there was no escaping the teenage Vampire.

"Harry how is it different exactly?" Aria asked in a calm tone of voice. Harry knew it was forced.

Harry did not know how to answer that so he stayed quiet. Aria took Harry's silence as confirmation that it was no different.

"Harry, I'm not going to force you to tell anyone, but I am as a friend going to advice you to tell someone. Tell Dumbledore, tell dad, tell Mrs. Weasley, tell the twins, tell whomever you want, but tell some one so you don't have to go there during the summer." Aria almost begged him.

"Aria, I can't do that. It doesn't matter if I tell anyone. I have to go back to Private Place. The wards are there. That is the only place I am safe." Harry said.

"Harry I'm sure we could put wards around the Weasley's house or anywhere you go to live." Aria said trying to reason with him.

"No Aria, I refuse to put anyone else in danger because I live or am staying with them." Harry said. It was clear to Aria that he was not changing his mind anytime soon.

"Harry I understand your need to protect people, but think about yourself. You can't keep living like this." Aria said desperately trying to make Harry change his mind.

"No Aria, I won't. Please just let it go." Harry pleaded.

Aria sighed.

"For now. But please promise me Harry that if anything like this happens to you again you will tell me or someone."

"I promise." Harry said looking directly into Aria's eyes. With that single gesture Aria knew that Harry was not lying to her.

Aria gave a small smile, which Harry returned.

"I better put on my shirt." Harry said.

"Yes you better, unless you want to stay like that and have everyone staring at your skinny, but still impressive chest." Aria joked.

Harry laughed while picking up his shirt. "You really think it's impressive?" He asked once he had his shirt back in place.

"Oh, most definitely. " Aria said in a fake serious voice.

Harry laughed at her act. "And there I was thinking I had finally impressed you with something." He said still in a joking voice. The truth was that he was actually starting to care a lot what Aria thought about him.

"Don't worry honey, I don't need your chest to impress me. You are an impressive lad all around." Aria said while making her way toward the door.

Harry raced to catch up with her before she opened the door. He stood in front of her blocking her way out. "Really?" he asked her.

"What?" she asked a little bit taken away by Harry's change of attitude from joking to serious.

"Do I really impress you?" Harry asked.

Aria was a little taken a back by the question. She had said it as a joke, but the truth was that she really thought that.

"Um, well… yes." Aria answered in a whisper.

Harry gave a big smile. "You impress me too." He said before walking out the door.

Aria stood in confusion for about a second before Harry's words sinked in. When the words registered in her mind she raced after Harry. She cached up to him in a deserted corridor near the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Harry!" she shouted. He stopped at once. "Harry, what did you mean?" Aria asked as soon as she was standing right in front of him.

"I meant that you impress me too." Harry said. He had already said, so what harm could come out of saying it twice?

"Really?" Aria asked.

"Really." Harry replied now getting a little nervous.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really?"

"Yes Aria, really." Harry said now absolutely nervous.

"Oh, okay then, thanks." Aria said before starting to walk away.

As soon as Aria rounded the corner Harry shouted "Aria, wait."

Grinning Aria stopped and waited for Harry to catch up with her. "What?" she asked innocently.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked confused.

"Oh nothing." Aria responded innocently, way too innocently, she was definitely up to something.

"Yes, it was about something." Harry argued.

Aria shrugged. Suddenly it drawled on Harry that Aria liked him back. With this new realization Harry had a sudden urge of confidence and he leaned toward Aria intent on kissing her. Just as their lips were about to meet a Hufflepuff boy walked through the corner were Harry and Aria were.

At once the two teenagers sprung apart.

"Uh, sorry, but the headmaster wanted me to find Harry Potter and ask him to please meet him in his office as soon as possible." The young boy, no older than 13, said.

"Thanks…?" Harry replied.

"Oh, Chase." The boy, Chase replied.

"Thanks Chase, I'll go in a second." Harry said. As soon as the kid had delivered his message he left.

Harry looked at Aria nervously, his confidence had already evaporated. Aria smiled and quickly pressed her lips to his, before quickly going to the Common Room.

Harry got a goofy grin on his face and turned around to go into the headmaster's office.

The headmaster only wanted to know how was Harry's vacation. Harry told him it was okay and quickly left. He wanted to see Aria.

Fifteen minutes later Harry arrived at the Common Room. As soon as he entered the first thing he saw was Elsmere sitting in an armchair reading a book on Arithmacy.

"Hey, where's Aria?" Harry asked trying to sound uninterested.

"She's in our rooms. I don't know what you two did, but she couldn't stop smiling when she entered the room." Elsmere said this with a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Oh, it's probably nothing. She just beat me during practice." Harry responded. He was not sure if he should tell anyone about the kiss.

"Sure." Elsmere said suspiciously.

Harry just ignored the very annoying Vampire and walked toward the portrait that hid Aria's and Elsmere's rooms. He stood right in front of the portrait and said the password, "heart of fire". He was probably the only one apart from the two Vampires that knew the password. At once the portrait swung open and he stepped inside.

The small living room was painted a pale blue with white leather armchairs and a rug in the middle and a fireplace. Aria was not in the living room so he assumed that she was in her room. Their rooms had two bedrooms, one for Aria and the other for Elsmere, obviously.

Harry knocked on the one he knew belonged to Aria, even though he had never actually been inside it. He waited for almost a two minutes before Aria came out with her hair-dripping wet.

"Hey Harry." She said opening the door wider and motioning for him to come inside. Harry did as he was told and he entered the room. The room was beautiful. The walls were a soft brown color, the floor was covered with a soft, fluffy white rug and her bed was of a dark wood with dark green sheets.

"Pretty room." Harry commented.

"Thanks. So, what brings you to my rooms?" Aria asked.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you." Harry replied getting more nervous by the second.

"Oh, about what?" Harry knew perfectly well that Aria knew what he wanted to talk about, but he also knew that Aria loved to torture him.

"Well, so you do like me?" he asked.

Aria rolled her eyes. "Obviously." She replied.

Harry couldn't help but laugh; it had really been a stupid question. "So you wouldn't mind if I did this, would you?" he asked, but before she could ask what was he talking about he leaned forward and captured her lips with his.

At first it was sweet kiss but after a second Aria moved her hand to Harry's hair, and at once deepened the kiss. Harry felt like an eternity had passed since he started kissing Aria, but he had to break the kiss seeing as he was breathless.

"I would most definitely not mind." Aria said before starting to kiss Harry once more. They continued kissing until the door opened.

"Sure she just beat you up." Elsmere commented. Harry blushed and Aria just laughed.

A/N- Ok, well I know I promised to post this last week, but my computer did not have internet, then I have to leave for a week vacation. When I came back the guy had still not fixed my computer, actually he still hasen't fixed it. I'm using my dad old computer. I have had this chapter finished since last week but this computer would not let me log on into the site. I'm terribly sorry. I don't know when I'll be able to update again because I have no decent computer. Sorry once again. Oh, yes and thanks to all the people who reviewed and added me to their alerts and favorites, you guys rock!! Please review and let me know what the thoughts on this chapter are, I really want to know what you guys think of my story!! 


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N- At the bottom.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters, they all belong to the genius J.K. Rowling!!**

The day the rest of the students were to arrive at Hogwarts from their Christmas Vacations was a Saturday.

Harry, Elsmere and Aria went to Hogsmeade Station to meet up with their friends. The train finally arrived at around eight o' clock in the afternoon. At once Harry spotted his red haired friends and the bushy haired girl with them.

Harry and the two Vampires made a bee-line toward them.

As soon as Hermione and Ginny saw Harry they each gave him a hug.

"Yes, I missed you girls too." Harry said after he had hugged them back, thank Merlin Aria was not the jealous type.

"How was your summer, mate?" Ron asked him.

"Oh, it was alright." Harry answered while greeting the twins.

"Really?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Yes, Hermione. The break was uneventful." Harry lied. Aria raised an eyebrow at Harry's pathetic lie. He decided to change the subject. "Where's Blaise?"

Ginny was the one who answered. "He had to sit with a bunch of Slytherins on the train. He said to meet him in the Room of Requirement at midnight."

Harry gave a sigh of relief, it was good to know that Blaise was okay. "Good, I was worried."

"Yeah me too, he couldn't owl me during the whole Holiday. His mom wouldn't let him." Ginny said.

By now the train station was almost deserted.

"Guys, we should really start moving toward the Castle." Hermione said looking around worriedly. There were only about ten students left in the station.

"Your right 'Mione." Ron said taking her hand and starting to lead her toward the school. The twins rolled their eyes at their brother's behavior. They both knew Ron would do anything Hermione told him to do.

"Would you like an escort miss?" George said talking to Elsmere. Elsmere smiled and accepted the hand George was offering her and together they started walking toward the school.

"Is it just me, or is there something between Elsmere and George?" Harry asked.

"I really have no idea, and he is supposed to be my twin." Fred answered looking confused at the retreating backs of his brother and the Vampire.

"I think there is something, I'm just not sure yet what." Aria said.

"Well whatever it is, I'm going to find out." Harry said at once intrigued by the mystery.

"Oh hush now you and let's go." Aria said taking Harry's hand and leading him toward the school.

Ginny and Fred looked at each other with wide eyes.

"What the hell happened during break?" Fred asked.

"I have no idea brother, none at all." Ginny answered before also starting to walk toward the school with Fred right behind her.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

When Harry and Aria entered the Room of Requirement at midnight they noticed that they were the last ones to get there.

"Finally." Blaise commented but with a smile.

"Yeah, well we lost track of time, sorry." Harry said, truth was that Aria and Harry had got lost in their own little world after Aria had got back from hunting.

"Sure…" Elsmere said in disbelief. She was sited next to George. Aria raised an eyebrow at that.

"Moving on," Harry said trying to change the subject, "I'm glad your okay, Blaise."

"Yeah, me too. It was harder than I thought. There was a moment where I thought the Dark Lord had gotten through my Occlumency barriers." Blaise said having a far away look in his eyes. He shuddered. "You know, he's worst than I thought."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"Well, you see, I always thought that he only punished his followers when they messed up, but it turns out he tortures them for fun. That wasn't the worst part either. You know what my initiation present was?" Harry and everyone in the room could see that Blaise was about to cry. Harry shuddered at just imagining it. He had seen Death Eater meetings after all. Of all those presents in the room he was probably the only one apart from Blaise that knew the exact horrors that Voldemort found pleasure in. "He brought me a little girl, no older than five. He… he demanded that I torture her and after he got tired of watching the little girl suffer, he made me kill her." A single tear fell from Blaise's eye. "I couldn't sleep for a whole week after that and I still have nightmares. And my parents, they were proud of me. They were proud that I killed someone. What kind of parent encourages their kid to torture and kill? I hate them. It's their fault I have to go through this."

Ginny was crying silently into Fred's shoulder, Elsmere into George's, Hermione into Ron's and Aria into Harry's. Ron had a look of pure horror in his eyes. Fred and George were trying to consol Ginny and Elsmere. Harry also had a few tears running down his cheeks while he hugged Aria. He couldn't help but feel at least slightly responsible for Blaise's pain.

If it weren't for him Voldemort wouldn't have come back to his body. Blaise wouldn't be forced to serve a madman. He felt as through he owed something to Blaise.

"Blaise," Harry said at last "I promise you that I would do everything in my power to destroy him soon. I know what you passed through. I have to witness it almost every night. Even though I don't cast any of the spells I can't help but feel responsible for your pain or for every death Voldemort causes. I'm sorry, I really am. I know that won't help, but I still want you to know."

Harry did not wait for an answer before running out of the room.

Aria looked in horror at the retreating back of her boyfriend. Did he just say what she thought he said? She did not think about it twice, she jumped up from the seat she was seated on and ran after Harry. She had a hunch that he would go to the forest so she went in that general direction.

She found him about fifteen minutes later sitting on the edge of a brook deep into the forest. In the moonlight she could see the tears that ran freely down his cheeks.

"Harry." he ignored her. Aria walked over to him and sat next to him. "Harry."

This time he turned to look at her. At once Aria felt as through her heart might break because of the look in his eyes. In those troubled green eyes Aria could see pain, love, fear, determination, indecision, but most of all she could see guilt.

This time she did not hug Harry like she had done on multiple of occasions before, this time she just sat next to him holding his hand until he decided to speak.

And speak he did, about half an hour later.

"How can you stand to be next to me?" he finally asked in a small voice.

"What do you mean Harry?" Aria asked gently.

"I mean, I'm just this messed up kid. I cause everyone pain. I was the one who caused Voldemort to come back to life." Harry said, he had a tortured look in his eyes.

"Oh, Harry don't say that. You don't cause everyone pain and you most certainly not the reason why Voldemort is back." Aria said sternly.

"It was my blood he used." Harry argued.

"Yes, but it was forcefully taken." Aria reminded him.

"That does not make it better. It still was my blood." Harry argued, by Merlin this boy is stubborn.

"Maybe so, but it makes it not your fault. The fault lays entirely in Pettigrew, Crouch JR and Voldemort, in no one else. Not in you, not in me, not in Dumbledore, not in anyone else." Aria said.

"Maybe." Harry said but Aria knew he still did not believe her.

"Harry, what else is bothering you?" Aria asked, she knew that that was not the only thing bothering Harry.

"How can they expect me to defeat him? I'm an average wizard. There's nothing special about me. I'll just fail everyone. I want so much to end this and be able to help everyone, but I just can't. I know I can't Aria. I'll just end up letting everyone down. There's so much people counting on me. I can't do it. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I won't be able to protect my friends. How would I be able to live with myself if you, or Elsmere or Hermione or Ginny or Fred or George or Ron or Neville or Luna or Blaise or any of your family or any of the order or any of the people I care about die or get badly hurt. I can't loose any of you… I can't loose you, Aria." Harry said.

Aria took a few seconds to think over her answer.

"Harry, first of all you are not an average wizard. An average wizard would never be able to beat me in a fight, an average wizard would never be able to cast a Patronous at the age of thirteen. An average wizard would not be able to do half the things you do. You won't fail anyone because you have us helping you. Don't even think for a second that we will let you go and fight alone. We will be with you till the end. Don't be afraid that you won't be able to protect us. We know how to protect ourselves you know? Last year you taught the D.A., me and Elsmere know how to defend ourselves since we were two year old. The order are all full grown wizards. You really must stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong, it isn't healthy. Harry, everything will be alright in the end, I promise."

"You can't promise things you can't keep." Harry replied.

"Maybe, but I can promise that we will fight to make everything alright and we will succeed."

Harry gave Aria a small smile. He still did not feel secure in his skills and he still felt a little guilty, but he knew that Aria was just as stubborn as himself so there was no way to argue with her. In all honesty the talk with Aria did help him.

"Thanks, Aria. I really don't know what I would do without you." Harry murmured.

"Your welcome, and you would must probably be a lunatic already" she replied smiling.

Harry leaned forward and kissed Aria with all the love he felt toward her. Aria returned the kiss with equal passion. When they separated the both of them were smiling.

"Are you ready to go back to the castle?" Aria asked Harry.

"Yes, let's go." Harry replied looking at the brook. "You know, I just found this place today and I think it's beautiful. It's peaceful but at the same time it holds hidden power. It reminds me of you."

Aria was a little taken a back by Harry's sudden change of topic but she still smiled.

"Thanks, I guess."

""No, I really think you are one of the most beautiful girls I've seen. You can be the most peaceful person on earth when you want, but you are also powerful. You hold so much power in you. At first glance you wouldn't be able to notice it, but when you notice it, you figure out that you can be deadly. I really like that about you."

"Thanks." Aria was flattered by Harry's description of her, well she thought so. She was still a little concerned about Harry's mental health, but she decided that he was giving her a compliment. "Let's go back to the castle, we have to sleep you know."

"Okay, let's go." Harry responded turning his back to the brook.

Together Aria and Harry started walking toward the school. They were almost to the entrance of the school when they saw a figure walking a couple of feet behind him.

"Who is there?" Harry called as soon as he saw the figure.

The figure stopped in its tracks, at once he raised his hands in a display of innocence.

"Calm down Harry, it's only me, Dean." by the wand light Harry saw that he was indeed Dean Thomas, at once Harry relaxed.

"Oh, okay, how are you Dean, how was your break?" Harry asked his fellow Gryffindor.

"Oh, it was okay. Nothing interesting happened, same old, same old, you know?" Dean replied walking over to them.

"Yeah, the same as mine." Harry smiled. Aria was silent, something about this did not seem right to her.

"Harry, let's go. This doesn't seem right to me." Aria murmured to Harry. Harry nodded. He also had a bad feeling in his gut.

"Well, nice seeing you. I have to go now." Harry said trying to leave.

"Wait for me, I'm going the same way as you anyway." Dean said walking faster to catch up with them.

"Sure." Harry sis not see a way to get away from him. Aria looked worriedly at Harry. Harry returned the look. Dean finally reached them.

"Hey." he said, "here, Dumbledore asked me to give you this." he extended a rolled parchment to Harry, it did have Dumbledore's writing on it.

As soon as Harry grabbed the scroll Dean let it go. At once Harry felt the all too familiar feel of his navel being pulled, a portkey. Aria had not released his hand so she was right next to him.

They landed in a heap on a dirty marble floor.

**A/N- Hey, my computer got fixed!! Yeah, and better yet I was able to post this chapter so soon. Please don't kill me for the cliff-hanger. **

**Thanks to all my reviewers. Please review this chapter too!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N- Hi I'm back my computer was again sent to b fixed. It's not completely okay yet but at least it now works. I'm sorry for the lateness. This chapter was really hard to write. I hope you enjoy it. Please tell me what you think. **

**Disclaimer- I own nothing. **

_They landed in a heap on a dirty marble floor._

As soon as they landed Harry knew that they were in trouble. His suspicions were confirmed when he looked around and spotted an assembly of wizards wearing black hooded cloaks and white masks.

His breath hitched as soon as he recognized them, Death Eaters!

At once Harry sprang into action. He stood up dragging Aria up with him. Aria had already noticed what was happening and had her wand out. Harry also took his wand out. Without thinking about it the two teenagers moved to stand back to back.

The Death Eaters had not made a move in the few seconds that had passed since Harry and Aria arrived.

When Harry took a second to look around the room he spotted why. Right in front of Aria, where his back had been a second before was Lord Voldemort.

Harry raised his wand at one.

"None of that Mr. Potter. We wouldn't want your pretty Vampire getting hurt would we?" Voldemort asked pointing his wand at Aria's heart for Harry to see.

Harry saw that Lucius had Aria's wand in his hand. Harry knew they were doomed all of Aria's wandless magic had to be done touching and those were mostly healing; he did not think any were offensive.

"Mr. Potter, be a dear and give your wand to Lucius." Voldemort said motioning for Lucius to step toward Harry. As soon as Lucius was close enough Harry cast expelliarmus sending Lucius flying until he hit the wall.

Voldemort slapped Aria. She did not make a sound even when Harry could already see a bruise starting to form. "I told you already Harry that I will not hesitate to harm your Vampire. So you better give me your wand." As if to make a point Voldemort raised his hand once again as if to slap Aria.

"No!" Harry screamed. He handed over his wand. He still had his wandless magic and his sword securely in his hip, but he could use none of them without Voldemort noticing and harming Aria. To use his wandless magic he had to move his hands and to get his sword he would have to move.

"Very good, now… Ms...? Voldemort asked talking to Aria.

Aria did not respond. She remained perfectly still, almost like a statute.

"I will not repeat myself… Ms.?" Voldemort had his wand at the ready. When Aria remained quiet Voldemort murmured "Crucio" as through he was bored. At once Aria started to twitch and scream. Harry also screamed.

"Stop it Voldemort!" he screamed, Voldemort just looked at him with dark amusement in his eyes. "Stop it, her name is Aria! Leave her alone, the one you want is me, is it not?"

Voldemort laughed an evil creepy laugh. "I knew I would find the way to break you soon enough Potter. Aria… Aria" now he was talking directly to the Vampire. "So you are the young Vampire I have heard so much about. They tell me that you and your… cousin is it?" without waiting for an answer he continued. "Yes, you and your cousin are studying at Hogwarts this year."

Harry wondered how Voldemort was so informed on the happenings of Hogwarts but he figured out that he would probably have more than two spies.

This time Aria did say something. "Yes we are, do you have a problem with that?"

Voldemort looked furious at the obvious disrespect. "Crucio!" he shouted once again Aria was submerged to the torture curse. While Aria screamed Harry also screamed, he could not stand to know that Aria was being tortured because of him. As soon as Voldemort released Aria he could breathe again.

"Take the little Vampire to the dungeons." he commanded. One of the Death Eaters stepped forward and took Aria by the arm and dragged her out of the room.

Now Harry was really worried. When Aria had been in the same room he at least knew what was happening to her, now he had no idea what could be happening and that made him nervous.

Harry, seeing that Aria was at least out of harm until Voldemort could send someone with the message about what to do with her, took his chance and moved his hand to try and reach for his sword which was strapped to his waist. Before he could even touch the hilt Voldemort sent a Crucio his way.

While Harry was shaking with the pain caused by the torture curse Voldemort spoke. "So you see my loyal followers Harry Potter is once again at my feet. And this time I assure you he is not getting away."

All the Death Eaters cheered as Voldemort took the curse off of Harry. Before Harry even had time to try and move his hand Voldemort stepped on his right hand and crushed it.

Harry screamed almost as loud as he had with the cruciatus. His hand hurt and now he could not even fight with his dominating hand.

"We wouldn't want to take any chances would we?" Voldemort asked in a fake innocent tone of voice.

Harry had tears running down his cheeks, he's whole body was still twitching and hurt because of the pain from the cruciatus curse and now he could not even move his hand. Even with the tears he lifted his eyes to look the Dark Lord in the face.

"No we wouldn't would we?" and with that Harry got all his willpower and raised his left hand sending a wandless and wordless expelliarmus spell at Voldemort. The spell hit its mark. Voldemort's wand went flying out of his hand.

Unfortunately for Harry Voldemort had about twenty followers in a circle around them. One of the masked Death Eaters caught Voldemort's wand and handed it to his as through it was the most precious and valuable thing in the world.

Before Harry had a chance to fire another spell Voldemort sent a spell at his hand which automatically broke it. This time Harry did not cry out in pain. He was already starting to see spots of black in his vision and could hardly register what was going on around him.

"You will learn to respect me." Voldemort hissed. If Harry did not know any better he would have thought that Voldemort had spoken parseltounge but it looked as through the Death Eaters understood him perfectly. "Crucio"

This time Harry was under the curse for five minutes. Those were the longest five minutes Harry had ever experienced, they seemed to last an eternity.

When the spell was finally lifted Voldemort addressed his Death Eaters. "You each have the use of one spell or potion on him and no more." And with that the feared Dark Lord sat on a throne like chair and waited to see his enemy be tortured.

Harry was not sure exactly how long he was tortured or exactly who did what. He only had flashes of faces he recognized and moments he could remember but the other parts of his torture were a mix of pain and screaming.

From the little he could remember he remembered Lucius hitting him with a hex that covered his body in shallow superficial cuts that causes no permanent harm but hurt like hell. He remembered Bellatrix casting the cruciatus until he thought he would loose his mind or pass out. He remembered someone breaking his leg and someone hitting him with a spell that made him feel as through a great weight had been dumped in front of his whole body.

He did not remember either Snape or Blaise performing any curses or giving him any potions. Harry had little hope to be rescued but the little hope he had left him when he saw that neither Snape nor Blaise were not present at his torture.

Half way through his torture Harry had lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was the immense pain he was in. the second thing he noticed was that Voldemort was standing right in front of him with his wand outstretched.

Harry's brain was acting slower than usual and it took him a moment to register the fact that it had been Voldemort that had awakened him from his unconscious state.

"Now, now Mr. Potter we don't want you to miss the grand finally do you?" Voldemort asked in a fake sweet voice. Harry, even in his pain and almost unconscious state, thought

that that tone of voice definitely did not suite Voldemort.

Voldemort did not wait for Harry to answer. "You are probably wondering what we have planned to do with you aren't you?"

To be honest Harry was not. The only thing he was wondering was if Aria was okay. It was his fault that she was even in this mess. He did not really care what happened to him as long as his friends were safe. So he told Voldemort as much. "Not really." It came out more as a whisper and his voice was dry but Harry was sure Voldemort heard him.

Sure enough Voldemort got an enraged look in his eyes and sent a Crucio at him. Just when Harry was about to pass out again Voldemort stopped the curse. Without another word Voldemort forces a vial into Harry's mouth and forced him to drink.

The potion tasted loathsome. It was even worst than skele-grow; but when he tried to spit it out he couldn't. The potion had already been drunk. The last thing Harry heard was Voldemort giving someone orders to put him in the same cell as Aria as he wanted her to see him die.

The next thing Harry was aware of was cold arms in his leg. He soon felt back into unconsciousness. When he woke up again he was a little more lucid.

"Harry. Harry please wake up. I need your help." It sounded like Aria's voice but he could not be sure. It sounded really far away.

"Harry wake up now!" now he did wake up. Aria had put her hand on his shoulder and forced him to wake up. "Oh good! Harry I need you to try and stay awake for a while can you do that?" Aria sounded really worried and Harry wanted to reassure her as much as he could.

"Y…yeah" he said. His voice was hoarse and cracked from so much screaming. His whole body hurt but the thing that hurt the more was his shattered right wrist. He looked at it.

Aria noticing where Harry was looking sighed. "I'm sorry I really could do nothing more for you. I tried to heal your broken wrist but I couldn't. I healed your leg and left wrist and all your superficial cuts but other than that I really can't do anything else." She said in a sad tone.

It broke Harry's heart to see Aria so sad so he slowly sat up and pulled her close to him. He hugged her while she sobbed in his shoulder.

"I'm sorry they did this to you. I should had been there helping you fight them. I'm sorry." She said while crying.

Harry had a few tears in his eyes too. "No Aria. I could not have lived with myself if you had been harmed like I was. I'm glad they took you away. I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess. I promise you I'll get you out of here."

Aria seemed to have calmed down a little by now and she faced Harry. "Harry we have to get out of here. You've been asleep for a while, almost ten hours by my calculations. I know you are exhausted and in pain but we must try. Now, let's try now. The one guarding our cell right now is Wormtail and he should be easy enough to get through."

Harry thought about this for a second. Getting pass Wormtail would be easy enough he just had to call upon the life debt that Wormtail owed Harry. Getting out of the house was what worried Harry was getting out of the house. He had no idea were they were or how big the house was. And even if they managed to escape how would they get back to Hogwarts?

He expressed his doubts to Aria.

"Well once we are out of this cell you will hold on to me and not let go. I'm going to use one of the many talents a Vampire has in order to mend into the shadows and no one will notice us. When we are outside I can apparate both of us back to Hogsmeade." She explained.

"You can apparate?" Harry asked the Vampire.

"Of course. If I couldn't I wouldn't be offering would I?" Aria replied.

After thinking the plan over Harry accepted it and together they called Peter.

"What do you two want? Don't make me have to Crucio you." He threatened. It would have been a scary threat if it weren't for the fact that he was trembling from head to foot.

"I Harry James Potter call into effect the life debt owed to me by Peter Pettigrew." At once Peter got a look of pure horror on his face, but it was too late. Now Peter was in Harry's control. Harry continued speaking. "Peter you will let us pass and you will not say a word about it to anyone you hear me?"

Peter was shaking worst than before. "Y-Y-Yes." He answered before opening their door and stepping aside.

Harry and Aria did not waist a single second. They hurried out of the cell and Aria took hold of Harry and pressed him to her.

"I t will be a little uncomfortable for you but it's our only choice." She said.

"Okay." Harry whispered. His whole body ached and from time to time his limbs twitched with the after effects of the cruciatus curse plus his right hand hurt more than when he woke up.

Aria pressed herself even closer to Harry and together they made the way throughout the house until the found the door leading outside. By the time they reached the point across from the wards from where Aria could apparate Harry was almost collapsed.

"Harry hold on a few more minutes please." Aria begged her boyfriend.

"I'll try." He said. Before they apparated Aria quickly kissed Harry.


End file.
